Hey All--
Well end of another week, so glad Friday is here! I have been busy typing up a paper for my LAST Saturday Class of the Semester! It was an airport planning class, that met every Saturday from 8am to 4:30pm, very long but since it talked about aviation I didn't mind it too much. Just dragged, and waking up at 6:30am, for an 8am class is not fun to do but it was only once a week.
We had a chilly week, but then it started getting nice again. We had another Tornado Warning Sunday, so we had to go to the basement and take cover. The storm ended up being only literally 5 minutes passing our city so we were like "that's it?!" Oh well it did kind of screw up the TV and Satellite, so our TV actually kind of froze for 2 days. I missed all my shows I normally tape! :(
Thursdays means Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice for me, glad I get to watch those again. I miss Glee, can't wait to see it again next week.
I got four more Plane models in 1:400 scale. They are American Airlines MD80, Virgin America Airbus A320, Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-300, and finally my personal favorite, TWA L1011. Cost about 95 bucks total, YIKES! :(
I am still trying to get my plans for Spring Break a bit more concrete, Chicago is still where I am planning to fly to, it's a matter of can I make it on the plane with the flight loads, and during Spring Break? It;s very risky but I'll try it! Will be quite an adventure.
I work Saturday Night from 5-9pm, and Sunday 12-5:30pm, typical weekend. Looks like more rain, I wish the nice weather would come back! It is march for god's sake!
I had a craving for Oreos and Twizzlers, so unhealthy for me but you know how you get a sugar rush craving so, I had to buy it. I'll regret it later I am sure.
Until then, hope ya'll have a great weekend! :)
Alex
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Weekend is over!
Hey All--
Weekend has now come to a close. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, friends were out of town, I had to work all weekend too.
I did figure out some plans for maybe going somewhere for Spring Break, hoping to hit up Chicago to see some friends if the flight loads work out.
I worked 12-6pm Friday, then 12-6pm also Saturday, then today, Sunday I worked 12-5:30pm.
We're supposed to be getting some storms, wind and Tornado's. As good as an implant is, I still sleep with the implant off, so I hope I wake up if there is a Tornado siren going on somewhere! Maybe Dorothy can give me a call to wake me up!
I read that Glee won't return for another week, kind of sad! :( I really love Glee, anyone watching the Oscars tonight?
Lady Gaga will be in Chicago tomorrow, but still too far away from me, her new "Born This Way" music video will be released tomorrow, I cannot wait for it!
Hope you all had a great weekend!
Alex
Weekend has now come to a close. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, friends were out of town, I had to work all weekend too.
I did figure out some plans for maybe going somewhere for Spring Break, hoping to hit up Chicago to see some friends if the flight loads work out.
I worked 12-6pm Friday, then 12-6pm also Saturday, then today, Sunday I worked 12-5:30pm.
We're supposed to be getting some storms, wind and Tornado's. As good as an implant is, I still sleep with the implant off, so I hope I wake up if there is a Tornado siren going on somewhere! Maybe Dorothy can give me a call to wake me up!
I read that Glee won't return for another week, kind of sad! :( I really love Glee, anyone watching the Oscars tonight?
Lady Gaga will be in Chicago tomorrow, but still too far away from me, her new "Born This Way" music video will be released tomorrow, I cannot wait for it!
Hope you all had a great weekend!
Alex
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Weekend So Far
Hey All-
Saturday here, not much to do. Been working all weekend. Trying to think of places to fly to. I had a funny incident with my Cochlear Implant the other day.
I was holding my Umbrella in the rain, and suddenly everything went quiet. I felt around and realized the magnet on my head detached itself and flew off my head and attached itself to the metal rod of the Umbrella...Guess it didn't wanna get wet either!
Yesterday, I had to decline a State of Illinois Credit Card at work. Little ironic that it got declined, shows the financial ruins of our state doesn't it?
No plans for Spring Break yet, I have been so slow in traveling. I haven't flown since October when I went to Los Angeles with a friend. Had a good time!
Weekend is going good so far, hope you guys are enjoying yours. Need some warm weather soon!
Alex
Saturday here, not much to do. Been working all weekend. Trying to think of places to fly to. I had a funny incident with my Cochlear Implant the other day.
I was holding my Umbrella in the rain, and suddenly everything went quiet. I felt around and realized the magnet on my head detached itself and flew off my head and attached itself to the metal rod of the Umbrella...Guess it didn't wanna get wet either!
Yesterday, I had to decline a State of Illinois Credit Card at work. Little ironic that it got declined, shows the financial ruins of our state doesn't it?
No plans for Spring Break yet, I have been so slow in traveling. I haven't flown since October when I went to Los Angeles with a friend. Had a good time!
Weekend is going good so far, hope you guys are enjoying yours. Need some warm weather soon!
Alex
Born This Way-Lady Gaga Song, My Thoughts
First time I heard the song, my instant reaction was “hmmh, this needs to be a ballad” It has good upbeat moves, and certainly something one can dance to in the clubs. I think when I pre-read the lyrics without hearing the music I formed my own version of it, and it came out to be a ballad.
Maybe Whitney Houston can perform this song as a ballad, as Lady Gaga mentioned on the Grammy’s last night. A lot of people have messaged me knowing I am a big fan of her, and wanted to know what I thought. The sentence I kept saying was “it’s not THE lady gaga song, I feel that title still goes to “Bad Romance” but, I really have never heard such beautiful lyrics in my life.
Most of you know by now that I am Gay. If you didn’t, you know now. I am not one of those guys who bawled my eyes out first time I heard the song, because I had to sit and think about it. Many proclaim it to be an anthem for gay people. While I can see how many can interpret it as that way, I truly think it is a song for EVERYONE. She covers it in all genres’ races, orientation and whatnot.
I heard it a lot, put it on repeat, watched it on the Grammy’s trying to get into it and like it, the way everyone else has, but something didn’t click with me yet. The song is great, why can’t I relate to it yet? Did the music really need to be a ballad for me to “like it” or was I not letting myself be more open minded?
The song opened talking about what her momma said, and leading to how everyone is perfect, maybe that’s why I couldn’t relate to it just yet? I didn’t see myself as perfect, we all have mistakes, but then I hear her singing “god makes no mistakes”. That is certainly true.
I kept listening, really analyzing the lyrics (maybe more than I needed to) this song was supposed to be THE hit of her, and relate to everyone, so I was determined to find it. The song came on the radio again today, on the way to work so I figured, Ok going to listen to it again.
Then out of nowhere it just hit me, I was “born this way”, and I sure as hell didn’t choose to be gay and sure as hell didn’t choose to be deaf too. All the folks who were against me for being gay, and asked why I chose it, look at me. I am Deaf too, that’s my disability, why the hell would I CHOOSE to be gay, and make my life twice as hard. I didn’t make myself this way, God did.
She sings it word for word, I am on the right track, he didn’t make any mistakes, because I was Born This Way. It left me smiling, and just really appreciated she took the time, whether in 10 minutes or 5 days to write a song everyone can relate to.
So family and friends, love and respect everyone for who they are, if you believe in Capital HIM, respect what he did, he created everyone the way he had us in mind, race, orientation, and disabilities. Love them and me for who we are.
Alex
Maybe Whitney Houston can perform this song as a ballad, as Lady Gaga mentioned on the Grammy’s last night. A lot of people have messaged me knowing I am a big fan of her, and wanted to know what I thought. The sentence I kept saying was “it’s not THE lady gaga song, I feel that title still goes to “Bad Romance” but, I really have never heard such beautiful lyrics in my life.
Most of you know by now that I am Gay. If you didn’t, you know now. I am not one of those guys who bawled my eyes out first time I heard the song, because I had to sit and think about it. Many proclaim it to be an anthem for gay people. While I can see how many can interpret it as that way, I truly think it is a song for EVERYONE. She covers it in all genres’ races, orientation and whatnot.
I heard it a lot, put it on repeat, watched it on the Grammy’s trying to get into it and like it, the way everyone else has, but something didn’t click with me yet. The song is great, why can’t I relate to it yet? Did the music really need to be a ballad for me to “like it” or was I not letting myself be more open minded?
The song opened talking about what her momma said, and leading to how everyone is perfect, maybe that’s why I couldn’t relate to it just yet? I didn’t see myself as perfect, we all have mistakes, but then I hear her singing “god makes no mistakes”. That is certainly true.
I kept listening, really analyzing the lyrics (maybe more than I needed to) this song was supposed to be THE hit of her, and relate to everyone, so I was determined to find it. The song came on the radio again today, on the way to work so I figured, Ok going to listen to it again.
Then out of nowhere it just hit me, I was “born this way”, and I sure as hell didn’t choose to be gay and sure as hell didn’t choose to be deaf too. All the folks who were against me for being gay, and asked why I chose it, look at me. I am Deaf too, that’s my disability, why the hell would I CHOOSE to be gay, and make my life twice as hard. I didn’t make myself this way, God did.
She sings it word for word, I am on the right track, he didn’t make any mistakes, because I was Born This Way. It left me smiling, and just really appreciated she took the time, whether in 10 minutes or 5 days to write a song everyone can relate to.
So family and friends, love and respect everyone for who they are, if you believe in Capital HIM, respect what he did, he created everyone the way he had us in mind, race, orientation, and disabilities. Love them and me for who we are.
Alex
1 Year of the Cochlear-Implant-Activation November 11th, 2011
"What?"
"I didn't hear you?"
"What's that noise?"
"Did you hear that?"
Those are sentences I would have said a year ago. Now, One year later, I hardly, if ever, rarely say those words as a result of my being Deaf.
On the first day I was "turned on" and by that I mean by the machine, yes a machine turned me on, imagine that! All I heard was a fizzle, and beeps of sounds. Very confusing to me at first but, the more important thing was I was HEARING those sounds naturally. The first few days would be confusing, mumbled sounds, and nothing really clear.
Everything was just too loud to me! This was quite funny as I was always the guy who asked to have things turned up. Now after the activation I did a 180 and would ask for things to be turned down. It always sounded like people were yelling at me and it hurt my ears and head. I wondered how hearing people survived this?!
Then I remember one moment driving home from the hospital after one of my numerous check ups, I heard this clicking sound in the car. I never heard this before and it alarmed me. I was convinced something was wrong with the car. That's it I decided, I was pulling over to figure this sound. The sound happened once again as I turned off the road and pulled over, but would stop when I was going straight. This had me absolutely dumbfounded. I proceeded to call my mother with the mind I was going to have to call a tow-truck. Imagine this, standing outside on the highway off the hospital 2 hrs away from home not knowing what the hell was making this clicking sound. I explained everything I was doing to my mother, and I heard a short laugh, and then a brief of sympathy going "Oh, Honey, thats the turn signal!" Me "the turn signal makes a sound?" I proceeded to turn on the turn signal and sure as hell, *click* *click* *click* I'll be damned! My mother proceeded to add "this is going to be a long month for us isn't it?!"
I also remember random moments of sound, the first time I heard a raccoon, but most people won't care that I heard a raccoon, but this is the amazing thing. The raccoon was nowhere near me. I was hearing it from SO far away. I now discovered not only could I hear things naturally I could PICK UP sound from far away. This truly was remarkable for me.
Some noises that became irritating for me but I got over it was the crackling of paper, jingling of keys, and the worst part was in my computer class. 26 people clacking away on the computer actually gave me a headache, Hearing every beep, chime, ping, clack, and click. Oh how did you guys do it?!
Then the big thing for me, FLYING! Oh, how I longed to hear the sound of the engines naturally, the wind whistling by, the announcements, the chime and pings. I could hear some of them on the hearing aid, but not as loud and clear as I would on the implant. I took my first inaugural flight with Southwest Airlines of course to Boston, and sat back and truly enjoyed everything I was hearing. Soon after 70 plus flights I have taken I am very good at recognizing just about every sound made on the aircraft, am able to follow along most announcements, that is if the flight attendant or pilot is actually speaking real clear...I really enjoyed it.
Music has also changed quite a bit for me. I have shyed away from country music and gotten more into pop, RB and just my rage of music has really changed. I like it, yes I still play Britney Spears so get over it people hahaha.
It has been a remarkable year for me, hearing things for the first time or hearing things in a more clear-er way. Family's voices, friends voices, I have enjoyed every moment of it, and look forward to the next year and developing and fine tuning my ears! Who knows, perhaps I will get my 2nd implant done!
Alex
"I didn't hear you?"
"What's that noise?"
"Did you hear that?"
Those are sentences I would have said a year ago. Now, One year later, I hardly, if ever, rarely say those words as a result of my being Deaf.
On the first day I was "turned on" and by that I mean by the machine, yes a machine turned me on, imagine that! All I heard was a fizzle, and beeps of sounds. Very confusing to me at first but, the more important thing was I was HEARING those sounds naturally. The first few days would be confusing, mumbled sounds, and nothing really clear.
Everything was just too loud to me! This was quite funny as I was always the guy who asked to have things turned up. Now after the activation I did a 180 and would ask for things to be turned down. It always sounded like people were yelling at me and it hurt my ears and head. I wondered how hearing people survived this?!
Then I remember one moment driving home from the hospital after one of my numerous check ups, I heard this clicking sound in the car. I never heard this before and it alarmed me. I was convinced something was wrong with the car. That's it I decided, I was pulling over to figure this sound. The sound happened once again as I turned off the road and pulled over, but would stop when I was going straight. This had me absolutely dumbfounded. I proceeded to call my mother with the mind I was going to have to call a tow-truck. Imagine this, standing outside on the highway off the hospital 2 hrs away from home not knowing what the hell was making this clicking sound. I explained everything I was doing to my mother, and I heard a short laugh, and then a brief of sympathy going "Oh, Honey, thats the turn signal!" Me "the turn signal makes a sound?" I proceeded to turn on the turn signal and sure as hell, *click* *click* *click* I'll be damned! My mother proceeded to add "this is going to be a long month for us isn't it?!"
I also remember random moments of sound, the first time I heard a raccoon, but most people won't care that I heard a raccoon, but this is the amazing thing. The raccoon was nowhere near me. I was hearing it from SO far away. I now discovered not only could I hear things naturally I could PICK UP sound from far away. This truly was remarkable for me.
Some noises that became irritating for me but I got over it was the crackling of paper, jingling of keys, and the worst part was in my computer class. 26 people clacking away on the computer actually gave me a headache, Hearing every beep, chime, ping, clack, and click. Oh how did you guys do it?!
Then the big thing for me, FLYING! Oh, how I longed to hear the sound of the engines naturally, the wind whistling by, the announcements, the chime and pings. I could hear some of them on the hearing aid, but not as loud and clear as I would on the implant. I took my first inaugural flight with Southwest Airlines of course to Boston, and sat back and truly enjoyed everything I was hearing. Soon after 70 plus flights I have taken I am very good at recognizing just about every sound made on the aircraft, am able to follow along most announcements, that is if the flight attendant or pilot is actually speaking real clear...I really enjoyed it.
Music has also changed quite a bit for me. I have shyed away from country music and gotten more into pop, RB and just my rage of music has really changed. I like it, yes I still play Britney Spears so get over it people hahaha.
It has been a remarkable year for me, hearing things for the first time or hearing things in a more clear-er way. Family's voices, friends voices, I have enjoyed every moment of it, and look forward to the next year and developing and fine tuning my ears! Who knows, perhaps I will get my 2nd implant done!
Alex
1 Year Anniversary of the Cochlear-Implant--October 23rd, 2010
Hey Guys-
It's been a long year, but I had my one year anniv in October and November respectively for the surgery and for the activation. I wanted to share them here for those who were interested.
October 23rd, 2010, marks the one-year anniversary of my Cochlear-Implant Surgery. I don’t even know where to begin to talk about the impact it has had on my life. I spent almost a year debating whether to have it done or not, what my friends and families thought, should I go for it? What would the impact be on my life, school, work and relationships with friends and more.
I could start with meeting people who had the implant. I was amazed how well they were doing with it, whether bi-lateral or dual. It blew me away and completely impressed me. I came home to talk to my family and friends about it, and thought I’d like to check this out. I talked to close friends, and family and in time, I decided for once I need to be selfish, and do what I wanted. Truth of the matter was, I wanted to HEAR. Feel like I belonged in this world.
Go back to the night before the surgery, I was terrified. Did I make the right decision? No backing out now, am I really going under again? Never fear, I was amazed at all the support I received from everyone the night of the surgery it was a great thought to have just before going under.
Then it came time to prep for surgery. Get blood done, IV in, it’s time to go to sleep. I don’t remember anything around that time, just being asked to count backwards from ten. Next thing I know, I am awake.
Of course letting people know I made it through the surgery was my first task, and everyone wanted to know the ONE burning question…”What can you hear?!” Me “NOTHING YET!”
It was amusing trying to explain to people the surgery was just to insert the magnet inside the head, and the true part would come barely a month later in November.
Thinking back the previous year, and to think has it really been a year since I had the surgery? It indeed has.
The surgery, and implant, has really strengthen my relationships with my friends no doubt and family too. It certainly brought up awesome conversations, hilarious moments in trying to hear things or recover my surgery.
I also think back to my first flying trips after the implant, when I took my first flight on Southwest Airlines to Boston on their inaugural flight out of STL. It was my inaugural for hearing and theirs for flying! It was so amazing getting to hear the sounds of “flying” that I had not heard before the surgery.
Then I think back to my first concert with Reba McEntire in February, and BOY what a difference it made to listen to country music and hear the twang and what not. Same for Lady Gaga concert, I was also surprised what I could pick up and hear and understand.
Then, trying to see a movie in 3D at the theaters wasn’t exactly a success story either. The glasses would knock off my implant on the head, so I had to decide, be blind, and hear the movie but not see, or be deaf, knock off the implant but be able to see the movie. Talk about having a Helen Keller moment! J
Going on my first international trip period on the implant was awesome for me to experience because I had to figure how to charge my batteries, and keep up with it while overseas. Getting to hear the dialect and language of Japanese folks versus American/English folks was very neat experience for me also.
I could go on and on, and most people won’t read or comment on this and that’s fine. I just want you to know, when you whine and complain, stop and think for a second that you are able to HEAR people whine and complain. For 22 years I was not able to do that. Now I can hear it, and try to be a part of the hearing world. Step by Step, day by day.
I never take anything for granted now, and it truly does give me the gift of life in a way because hearing is so much a part of it. I am very thankful for everything and the opportunity this has presented me. So much has been achieved in just a year, and I have only just begun. We ain’t seen nothing yet!
Once again from the bottom of my heart, I thank each and every single one of you who have been there for me, through likes, comments, messages, wall posts, texts, phone calls, visits, just asking how I am is sooo much appreciated. I am excited to share it all with you, and as long as you keep asking I will keep sharing!
One Year ladies and gentlemen, one year. It’s been an amazing ride.
Alex
It's been a long year, but I had my one year anniv in October and November respectively for the surgery and for the activation. I wanted to share them here for those who were interested.
October 23rd, 2010, marks the one-year anniversary of my Cochlear-Implant Surgery. I don’t even know where to begin to talk about the impact it has had on my life. I spent almost a year debating whether to have it done or not, what my friends and families thought, should I go for it? What would the impact be on my life, school, work and relationships with friends and more.
I could start with meeting people who had the implant. I was amazed how well they were doing with it, whether bi-lateral or dual. It blew me away and completely impressed me. I came home to talk to my family and friends about it, and thought I’d like to check this out. I talked to close friends, and family and in time, I decided for once I need to be selfish, and do what I wanted. Truth of the matter was, I wanted to HEAR. Feel like I belonged in this world.
Go back to the night before the surgery, I was terrified. Did I make the right decision? No backing out now, am I really going under again? Never fear, I was amazed at all the support I received from everyone the night of the surgery it was a great thought to have just before going under.
Then it came time to prep for surgery. Get blood done, IV in, it’s time to go to sleep. I don’t remember anything around that time, just being asked to count backwards from ten. Next thing I know, I am awake.
Of course letting people know I made it through the surgery was my first task, and everyone wanted to know the ONE burning question…”What can you hear?!” Me “NOTHING YET!”
It was amusing trying to explain to people the surgery was just to insert the magnet inside the head, and the true part would come barely a month later in November.
Thinking back the previous year, and to think has it really been a year since I had the surgery? It indeed has.
The surgery, and implant, has really strengthen my relationships with my friends no doubt and family too. It certainly brought up awesome conversations, hilarious moments in trying to hear things or recover my surgery.
I also think back to my first flying trips after the implant, when I took my first flight on Southwest Airlines to Boston on their inaugural flight out of STL. It was my inaugural for hearing and theirs for flying! It was so amazing getting to hear the sounds of “flying” that I had not heard before the surgery.
Then I think back to my first concert with Reba McEntire in February, and BOY what a difference it made to listen to country music and hear the twang and what not. Same for Lady Gaga concert, I was also surprised what I could pick up and hear and understand.
Then, trying to see a movie in 3D at the theaters wasn’t exactly a success story either. The glasses would knock off my implant on the head, so I had to decide, be blind, and hear the movie but not see, or be deaf, knock off the implant but be able to see the movie. Talk about having a Helen Keller moment! J
Going on my first international trip period on the implant was awesome for me to experience because I had to figure how to charge my batteries, and keep up with it while overseas. Getting to hear the dialect and language of Japanese folks versus American/English folks was very neat experience for me also.
I could go on and on, and most people won’t read or comment on this and that’s fine. I just want you to know, when you whine and complain, stop and think for a second that you are able to HEAR people whine and complain. For 22 years I was not able to do that. Now I can hear it, and try to be a part of the hearing world. Step by Step, day by day.
I never take anything for granted now, and it truly does give me the gift of life in a way because hearing is so much a part of it. I am very thankful for everything and the opportunity this has presented me. So much has been achieved in just a year, and I have only just begun. We ain’t seen nothing yet!
Once again from the bottom of my heart, I thank each and every single one of you who have been there for me, through likes, comments, messages, wall posts, texts, phone calls, visits, just asking how I am is sooo much appreciated. I am excited to share it all with you, and as long as you keep asking I will keep sharing!
One Year ladies and gentlemen, one year. It’s been an amazing ride.
Alex
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Cochlear Updates
Hello Folks-
This will be the LAST update for now until the day of my surgery, which is now scheduled for OCTOBER 23RD, 2009, A Friday Morning.
I met with the surgeon Thursday, August 27th. I got to see my CT Scans, which showed everything was normal, and all the holes that were supposed to be there, were in fact there!
We went over my decision on which ear, I remain to stay with the left side so far, and which company I chose-AB Harmony. Surgically, he had some concerns or rather cautions about operating in my left ear with an AB Harmony magnet. It seems surgically for my surgeon at least it is just a tad bit more difficult to operate and insert the internal piece, the magnet, from AB Harmony than it is with Nuclear Freedom.
However, that did not defer me and I still stood by AB Harmony and after double-checking my options with my Audiologist I confirmed AB Harmony was what I wanted to go with.
So with that we went to the secretary’s office, and got word and confirmation that October 23rd would be the date of surgery. I am very very excited to finally have a date to look forward to. It has been almost a year of checking things out, going through insurance process, getting appointments set up. Quite a whirlwind. Meeting with family and friends to make sure they were in the know, and getting their support, advice and suggestions. I take all of your thoughts and suggestions to heart, and in the end I chose with what was the most comfortable for me and what would further improve my lifestyle as well.
Keep in mind; I am NOT GOING TO BEGIN HEARING IMMEDIATELY OUT OF SURGERY. The surgery is simply the insertion of the magnet, internal piece of the cochlear implant. It will be up to 3 weeks possibly AFTER the surgery before I can put the external implant on, also known as the speech processor, and then be “turned on”. Even then, when they turn my speech processor on, I am not going to start suddenly hearing and understanding everything at once. This is a VERY long process and will take a lot of support and importantly PATIENCE as I work with my family and friends in going through therapy and sessions and meetings and whatnot.
I believe I have to meet twice a week for a month after the surgery then it is a gradual process depending how well I advance and whatnot. So I do NOT want to disappoint you all and you wonder why I am not hearing/understanding anything right after have my surgery. This is not an instant surgery unfortunately. We all would love that to be the case, but alas it is not.
Also, I have been asked by STL if I would be interested in participating in a research program, I would be paid by the hour and reimbursed for mileage and parking expenses. It is an entire year, meeting every 3 months. It should not be conflicting with my work and classes but I think I will try it out and see how it goes. If I see it is conflicting then I will drop out, but certainly something worth checking out for sure!
So I ask for your patience and support as I go through with it, there are going to be times I will be very frustrated, times I may think, I am not going anywhere, it is up to you folks to keep me going too, and remind me it is worth it in the end!
This is pretty much it, and all I will do is wait until day of surgery. If you have any questions or comments please leave them here, you may contact me through face book, text however you have my information. I want you all to be as educated as I am with the process, so you all have an understanding also of what I am going through too.
Thanks everyone!
Alex
This will be the LAST update for now until the day of my surgery, which is now scheduled for OCTOBER 23RD, 2009, A Friday Morning.
I met with the surgeon Thursday, August 27th. I got to see my CT Scans, which showed everything was normal, and all the holes that were supposed to be there, were in fact there!
We went over my decision on which ear, I remain to stay with the left side so far, and which company I chose-AB Harmony. Surgically, he had some concerns or rather cautions about operating in my left ear with an AB Harmony magnet. It seems surgically for my surgeon at least it is just a tad bit more difficult to operate and insert the internal piece, the magnet, from AB Harmony than it is with Nuclear Freedom.
However, that did not defer me and I still stood by AB Harmony and after double-checking my options with my Audiologist I confirmed AB Harmony was what I wanted to go with.
So with that we went to the secretary’s office, and got word and confirmation that October 23rd would be the date of surgery. I am very very excited to finally have a date to look forward to. It has been almost a year of checking things out, going through insurance process, getting appointments set up. Quite a whirlwind. Meeting with family and friends to make sure they were in the know, and getting their support, advice and suggestions. I take all of your thoughts and suggestions to heart, and in the end I chose with what was the most comfortable for me and what would further improve my lifestyle as well.
Keep in mind; I am NOT GOING TO BEGIN HEARING IMMEDIATELY OUT OF SURGERY. The surgery is simply the insertion of the magnet, internal piece of the cochlear implant. It will be up to 3 weeks possibly AFTER the surgery before I can put the external implant on, also known as the speech processor, and then be “turned on”. Even then, when they turn my speech processor on, I am not going to start suddenly hearing and understanding everything at once. This is a VERY long process and will take a lot of support and importantly PATIENCE as I work with my family and friends in going through therapy and sessions and meetings and whatnot.
I believe I have to meet twice a week for a month after the surgery then it is a gradual process depending how well I advance and whatnot. So I do NOT want to disappoint you all and you wonder why I am not hearing/understanding anything right after have my surgery. This is not an instant surgery unfortunately. We all would love that to be the case, but alas it is not.
Also, I have been asked by STL if I would be interested in participating in a research program, I would be paid by the hour and reimbursed for mileage and parking expenses. It is an entire year, meeting every 3 months. It should not be conflicting with my work and classes but I think I will try it out and see how it goes. If I see it is conflicting then I will drop out, but certainly something worth checking out for sure!
So I ask for your patience and support as I go through with it, there are going to be times I will be very frustrated, times I may think, I am not going anywhere, it is up to you folks to keep me going too, and remind me it is worth it in the end!
This is pretty much it, and all I will do is wait until day of surgery. If you have any questions or comments please leave them here, you may contact me through face book, text however you have my information. I want you all to be as educated as I am with the process, so you all have an understanding also of what I am going through too.
Thanks everyone!
Alex
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Cochlear Update Round Two!
Hello Folks-
As promised I would keep you guys updated. I had my second round of appt today in STL back at Barnes-Jewish. Cherise was kind enough to come with me to the appointment, and true to our relationship as friends, we of course got lost at the hospital! It was a long two hour drive, but thankfully one of my other good friends, Joe T, texted me to try and be there with me in spirit so thanks for that Joe! Appreciate the support from everyone who texted or left a message.
We got to the hospital about an hour early, but of course, Lucy (myself) and Ethel (Cherise) got lost right as we walked in. Apparantly my room was on the other side of the hospital, so after calling my father a million times, stopping to ask different hospital personals literally 5 times we finally found the room we had to go, 40 minutes later :)
Luckily, I arrived into the office JUST in time to fill out some paperwork, and do all that. They for some reason assigned me an ASL interp, which I specifically told them I didn't need, the poor guy sat in the room making conversation with Cherise barely moving his fingers to sign.
I went into the testing room, and I had a series of test this time WITH my hearing aids on. I of course failed as usual which is what we want! I was really surprised how bad I did. The first sequence of the test was to click a button anytime I heard a sound, I did that.
I had to do this with both hearing aids, one off and the other on and vice versa. Same thing with one word speech, a word would be spoken and I had to speak it outloud what I thought was said. She said I got one more word right out of my right ear over my left ear.
Then the last was to repeat a sentence I thought I heard or interperated, and I know Cherise had so much fun with this. I came up with the most weird sentences, for example I had to say whatever I thought I heard regardless of how strange it was because they were also testing to see how well I could interprate it. One sentence I said was "The bear is fishing in the car" Which we know doesn't happen, but it is what i heard!!!
That was all done, took about one hour and a half. We met back in her office, and she once again reiterated what the surgeon said and that she felt strongly I am definetly eligible for the cochlear implant! So I am now 2 for 2!!! *thumbs up!* I should hope so if I thought I heard "the bear is fishing in the car" I mean honestly!
The audiologist said the next step now is to wait until we hear from the insurance company, once we are contacted regarding that, we can now begin the pre op surgery appointments which involve meeting a few "-ologist" doctors, radiology, and neurologist and whatnot. Each of them I have to meet with and as long as I continue to meet the satisfaction of the CI requirements, they will continue to approve it for me as I meet each doctor. This is simply how the process goes.
However long that takes, I would be scheduled for surgery, most realistically by end of summer, anything sooner would be fantastic but not likely. I do have concerns of it starting right around school time but I frankly have no choice. After the surgery, i will be given 2 weeks or so to heal before I go back to be "turned on". I have to then go back up for 6 weeks, 2 times a week to continue the mapping and such. This is going to be a pain and hard on me, for those who are unfamilair with my location it is a 4 hr round trip drive everytime I go to STL ahhhh, but hopefully if it all works out in the end it is worth it!
Anyhow, that is the updated for now, so to recap, the audiologist (after the surgeon also) has also approved my CI Surgery for go ahead to meet the next doctor, next step is now to wait to hear from the insurance which may take up to a month, who knows. Then after that is to schedule an appt to see radiologist regarding the cat scan I believe.
Thanks again for all the support, and leave a message if you have any questions!
Alex
As promised I would keep you guys updated. I had my second round of appt today in STL back at Barnes-Jewish. Cherise was kind enough to come with me to the appointment, and true to our relationship as friends, we of course got lost at the hospital! It was a long two hour drive, but thankfully one of my other good friends, Joe T, texted me to try and be there with me in spirit so thanks for that Joe! Appreciate the support from everyone who texted or left a message.
We got to the hospital about an hour early, but of course, Lucy (myself) and Ethel (Cherise) got lost right as we walked in. Apparantly my room was on the other side of the hospital, so after calling my father a million times, stopping to ask different hospital personals literally 5 times we finally found the room we had to go, 40 minutes later :)
Luckily, I arrived into the office JUST in time to fill out some paperwork, and do all that. They for some reason assigned me an ASL interp, which I specifically told them I didn't need, the poor guy sat in the room making conversation with Cherise barely moving his fingers to sign.
I went into the testing room, and I had a series of test this time WITH my hearing aids on. I of course failed as usual which is what we want! I was really surprised how bad I did. The first sequence of the test was to click a button anytime I heard a sound, I did that.
I had to do this with both hearing aids, one off and the other on and vice versa. Same thing with one word speech, a word would be spoken and I had to speak it outloud what I thought was said. She said I got one more word right out of my right ear over my left ear.
Then the last was to repeat a sentence I thought I heard or interperated, and I know Cherise had so much fun with this. I came up with the most weird sentences, for example I had to say whatever I thought I heard regardless of how strange it was because they were also testing to see how well I could interprate it. One sentence I said was "The bear is fishing in the car" Which we know doesn't happen, but it is what i heard!!!
That was all done, took about one hour and a half. We met back in her office, and she once again reiterated what the surgeon said and that she felt strongly I am definetly eligible for the cochlear implant! So I am now 2 for 2!!! *thumbs up!* I should hope so if I thought I heard "the bear is fishing in the car" I mean honestly!
The audiologist said the next step now is to wait until we hear from the insurance company, once we are contacted regarding that, we can now begin the pre op surgery appointments which involve meeting a few "-ologist" doctors, radiology, and neurologist and whatnot. Each of them I have to meet with and as long as I continue to meet the satisfaction of the CI requirements, they will continue to approve it for me as I meet each doctor. This is simply how the process goes.
However long that takes, I would be scheduled for surgery, most realistically by end of summer, anything sooner would be fantastic but not likely. I do have concerns of it starting right around school time but I frankly have no choice. After the surgery, i will be given 2 weeks or so to heal before I go back to be "turned on". I have to then go back up for 6 weeks, 2 times a week to continue the mapping and such. This is going to be a pain and hard on me, for those who are unfamilair with my location it is a 4 hr round trip drive everytime I go to STL ahhhh, but hopefully if it all works out in the end it is worth it!
Anyhow, that is the updated for now, so to recap, the audiologist (after the surgeon also) has also approved my CI Surgery for go ahead to meet the next doctor, next step is now to wait to hear from the insurance which may take up to a month, who knows. Then after that is to schedule an appt to see radiologist regarding the cat scan I believe.
Thanks again for all the support, and leave a message if you have any questions!
Alex
Friday, April 3, 2009
Cochlear Implant Updates
Hello All-
After literally months of talking to people, and meeting with University, I was finally approved so that My Dad’s insurance had agreed to pay for the Cochlear Surgery. So with that good news, the next step was to contact a Doctor in St. Louis. Naturally I bothered Abbie so much about this I probably drove her Blackberry nuts.
The day had come for me to go meet the Doctor in St. Louis, April 2nd, 2009. Yes, the same day Abbie was to get “turned on”. This was not planned. So I couldn’t sleep the night before, and one of my good friends signed online to talk to me and relax me and it made me more jittery. I sent more texts to Abbie trying to get reassurance.
That morning, Thursday I rode up to St. Louis with My dad and Mom in tow. We got to the waiting room and I am just sitting as nervous as heck. Finally they called my name to come inside. I walked in the room. I hadn’t been to a hospital since I had my surgeries YEARS ago.
We wait and chat and the doctor came in. He asked if I did ASL I said no, I speak and use cued speech. He took the wax out of my ears so I felt super cleaned after that process! I love having my ears cleaned for some reason, it tickles me and feels so good! He reviewed my medical history and we told him what happened and when my hearing loss happened. He FINALLY figured out what happened to me that had caused my hearing loss! It was such a relief! I had what was called Lasic during Diuretics. It was a toxin that entered my body to help fluid control and that damaged my nerves.
My mother started crying thinking that she had caused it. Doctor said “nothing you could have done, he would have died if it wasn’t for that, you did fine”. So then he questioned my speech. He was amazed how well I spoke and so clearly, and asked where I learned about it. I mentioned learning cued speech and how well it has helped me to function in the Hearing World, and be able to talk and communicate well with hearing people too on top of lip reading and all. He described it as “spectacular” and was amazed and blown away.
After a couple more minutes he said “Alex, you are 100% a prime candidate for the cochlear implant, in fact if this goes through I’d love to see you go bilateral!” *thud* I nearly fell off the chair. I immediately thought of Abbie who probably would have squealed with delight hearing that news, or though maybe at the moment she’d be hearing it in the form of chipmunks, I digress…
He said we have to do another hearing test which we did later in the afternoon. He said I would probably be able to hear the water falls, horns honking, the wind, birds chirping in the morning. My mom started tearing up, and it was hard not to get flustered to hear this possibly happening for me. He added that he wished he met me when I was a lot younger but he said I will benefit from it now because I am able to communicate orally, and lip read and I am well tuned with hearing aids I would be ok and adjusted.
So with that I went to go take the hearing test. I failed, miserably, but that’s to be expected :) . I was given 50 words on each ear, and got 5 out of 50 right on right side, and 3 out of words on the left side. I am as deaf as I possibly could be! Some more tests were done, and we met back with the doctor. He said up to this point, everything is leading to a promising event of my getting the cochlear implant. He feels very strongly I’d benefit from it so with that, we scheduled another appointment for April 22nd to meet with the Cochlear Implant team and possibly get a CAT Scan also to check out the Cochlear too.
I am very excited at the possibilities of this so far, as soon as I got out of the hospital I became a busy bee texting Abbie a million questions about it all. She has been very helpful in directing me to some websites and people and I already have gotten a package so far to check things out.
I am excited for this possible new journey and cannot wait to see and HEAR the outcome of this all! I hope I soon become a Bionic Man!
After literally months of talking to people, and meeting with University, I was finally approved so that My Dad’s insurance had agreed to pay for the Cochlear Surgery. So with that good news, the next step was to contact a Doctor in St. Louis. Naturally I bothered Abbie so much about this I probably drove her Blackberry nuts.
The day had come for me to go meet the Doctor in St. Louis, April 2nd, 2009. Yes, the same day Abbie was to get “turned on”. This was not planned. So I couldn’t sleep the night before, and one of my good friends signed online to talk to me and relax me and it made me more jittery. I sent more texts to Abbie trying to get reassurance.
That morning, Thursday I rode up to St. Louis with My dad and Mom in tow. We got to the waiting room and I am just sitting as nervous as heck. Finally they called my name to come inside. I walked in the room. I hadn’t been to a hospital since I had my surgeries YEARS ago.
We wait and chat and the doctor came in. He asked if I did ASL I said no, I speak and use cued speech. He took the wax out of my ears so I felt super cleaned after that process! I love having my ears cleaned for some reason, it tickles me and feels so good! He reviewed my medical history and we told him what happened and when my hearing loss happened. He FINALLY figured out what happened to me that had caused my hearing loss! It was such a relief! I had what was called Lasic during Diuretics. It was a toxin that entered my body to help fluid control and that damaged my nerves.
My mother started crying thinking that she had caused it. Doctor said “nothing you could have done, he would have died if it wasn’t for that, you did fine”. So then he questioned my speech. He was amazed how well I spoke and so clearly, and asked where I learned about it. I mentioned learning cued speech and how well it has helped me to function in the Hearing World, and be able to talk and communicate well with hearing people too on top of lip reading and all. He described it as “spectacular” and was amazed and blown away.
After a couple more minutes he said “Alex, you are 100% a prime candidate for the cochlear implant, in fact if this goes through I’d love to see you go bilateral!” *thud* I nearly fell off the chair. I immediately thought of Abbie who probably would have squealed with delight hearing that news, or though maybe at the moment she’d be hearing it in the form of chipmunks, I digress…
He said we have to do another hearing test which we did later in the afternoon. He said I would probably be able to hear the water falls, horns honking, the wind, birds chirping in the morning. My mom started tearing up, and it was hard not to get flustered to hear this possibly happening for me. He added that he wished he met me when I was a lot younger but he said I will benefit from it now because I am able to communicate orally, and lip read and I am well tuned with hearing aids I would be ok and adjusted.
So with that I went to go take the hearing test. I failed, miserably, but that’s to be expected :) . I was given 50 words on each ear, and got 5 out of 50 right on right side, and 3 out of words on the left side. I am as deaf as I possibly could be! Some more tests were done, and we met back with the doctor. He said up to this point, everything is leading to a promising event of my getting the cochlear implant. He feels very strongly I’d benefit from it so with that, we scheduled another appointment for April 22nd to meet with the Cochlear Implant team and possibly get a CAT Scan also to check out the Cochlear too.
I am very excited at the possibilities of this so far, as soon as I got out of the hospital I became a busy bee texting Abbie a million questions about it all. She has been very helpful in directing me to some websites and people and I already have gotten a package so far to check things out.
I am excited for this possible new journey and cannot wait to see and HEAR the outcome of this all! I hope I soon become a Bionic Man!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Trip around the Country!
Hey All-
I flew around the country of the USA for 3 days, and wanted to share the trip here with you all!
Trip Report
Alex
I flew around the country of the USA for 3 days, and wanted to share the trip here with you all!
Trip Report
Alex
Monday, January 19, 2009
Life as a CSA-Part 2
Hello All. I wanted to go into the next topic. COS or also known as Customer of Size. This simply refers to passengers who are to large to sit in an airline seat comfortably. However be aware this does not mean if you are fat, or obese you cannot sit in the seat. Southwest Airlines has a unique rule in that if you are too large to sit in your seat comfortably and you require too raise one of the arm rest to sit, you will be required to purchase a second seat at the lowest cost possible at the time of booking. Why do we impose this on our large Customers? We do this for the safety of you, and those passengers sitting around the obese passenger. No, I am sorry to say this is NOT discrimination at the least. Southwest has been sued many times for this and have never lost, because it is not discrimination at all.
What safety is we talking about one would probably ask? As much as you as an obese person claim you have the right to the seat, and should not have to pay for the second seat, that Customer who purchased his seat next to you does not have the right to have his seat taken up by the obese person next to them. This is why require them to purchase the second seat. We get many more complaints about passengers whose seat was taken up by an obese passenger than we do by the obese passenger complaining about having to purchase an extra seat. It is uncomfortable situation for the airline employee, for the obese passenger and especially for the passenger who has to sit by them.
Someone has asked “I saw a guy use a seatbelt extension and he didn’t have to buy a second seat” Once again; we are not concerned about how large you are in front of even by side or anywhere. Our guideline rule is “if you must raise the armrest to sit in a comfortable position you are required to purchase a second seat”.
“But, the flight isn’t full, why are you making us purchase a second seat?” We do this for CONSISTENCY. So if the flight is full on the next time you fly Southwest, you cannot say to the agent “well they didn’t make me book a second seat last time”. This is why we do this, we strive to maintain consistency.
The good news is, if one can find any good news in all of this. If there is even ONE seat open on board the aircraft, YOUR SECOND TICKET WILL BE REFUNDED, CASH BACK. You simply need to call the Customer Service folks and they will be happy to do that process for you.
Drunk People…Oh Lord are they everywhere. Drunk People cannot be blamed on us, no way no how not ever. YOU chose to drink that beverage, once you do so, you are at our discretion of whether you can fly or not. If you show signs of being drunk, you will not fly at all. I don’t care WHO served you the alcohol, no one forced you to drink it. If you continue to resist against us you will be arrested and escorted off the airport property.
More to come! Questions or Comments leave them here!
What safety is we talking about one would probably ask? As much as you as an obese person claim you have the right to the seat, and should not have to pay for the second seat, that Customer who purchased his seat next to you does not have the right to have his seat taken up by the obese person next to them. This is why require them to purchase the second seat. We get many more complaints about passengers whose seat was taken up by an obese passenger than we do by the obese passenger complaining about having to purchase an extra seat. It is uncomfortable situation for the airline employee, for the obese passenger and especially for the passenger who has to sit by them.
Someone has asked “I saw a guy use a seatbelt extension and he didn’t have to buy a second seat” Once again; we are not concerned about how large you are in front of even by side or anywhere. Our guideline rule is “if you must raise the armrest to sit in a comfortable position you are required to purchase a second seat”.
“But, the flight isn’t full, why are you making us purchase a second seat?” We do this for CONSISTENCY. So if the flight is full on the next time you fly Southwest, you cannot say to the agent “well they didn’t make me book a second seat last time”. This is why we do this, we strive to maintain consistency.
The good news is, if one can find any good news in all of this. If there is even ONE seat open on board the aircraft, YOUR SECOND TICKET WILL BE REFUNDED, CASH BACK. You simply need to call the Customer Service folks and they will be happy to do that process for you.
Drunk People…Oh Lord are they everywhere. Drunk People cannot be blamed on us, no way no how not ever. YOU chose to drink that beverage, once you do so, you are at our discretion of whether you can fly or not. If you show signs of being drunk, you will not fly at all. I don’t care WHO served you the alcohol, no one forced you to drink it. If you continue to resist against us you will be arrested and escorted off the airport property.
More to come! Questions or Comments leave them here!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Life as Customer Service Agent for a Major Airline
I know quite a few of you fly a lot, and some may have never stepped on board the aircraft! Kind of surprising but they are out there. I know a lot of you may have seen or heard about the show “Airline” which featured one of the major airlines to fly in the
One of the most asked questions I have been asked was “Why do Airlines overbook?” While some policies differ from airline to airline, the basic reason is, we usually have a high rate of people NOT showing up for the flight. We overbook to compensate that and fill up seats that would have otherwise gone out as empty. It also is a way to raise revenue also. We get to keep your money if the passenger does not fly, however at Southwest if they contact the airline; they may be re issued a refund in the form of a travel voucher to future travel on Southwest. Most other airlines have this same policy but they also require a cancellation fee of upwards to 150 dollars. Kind of sucks. So what happens when everyone does show up? This is when we do deny boarding. Keep in mind it is AGAINST THE LAW to deny boarding on an airline WITHOUT asking for voluntarily passengers. We always seek them first to see if anyone does not mind taking another flight. Depending on the airline the reward for volunteering to be bumped could be an upgrade to first class, or a refund of the ticket you purchase in a voucher, or an extra 400-800 dollars in flight voucher. It’s pretty nice isn’t it?! On my shifts, I never had to deny anyone boarding, I always was able to find someone willing to accept a voucher. If you have questions regarding overbooking, and denied boarding please ask!
Two examples of flights being oversold, we had a Flight to
Finally one more event that people ask. Why do they delay our flight and the account of weather and storms, when I am looking out of the airport and it is sunny and not a cloud in sight! I was ALWAYS asked this in my shifts. Passengers seem to think the planes magically appear at the gate and take us to the destination we are booked to. Well folks, I have to say sorry this is not even true. You have to realize the planes are 100% likely coming from another destination that may have bad weather in that city. That is why, your
I will bring more stuff to my blogs upcoming, I will discuss in flight incidents, medical situations on board, death, drunk people, why the fees and changes and “nickel and diming” passengers and a big issue is obese people taking up two seats, which we call COS-Customer Of Size. This is probably another blog in itself. Hope you have a good weekend!
Alex
Thursday, January 1, 2009
2008 into 2009
Well, well, well. Two Thousand Eight. What. A. Year. So many things happened to me that I couldn’t believe possible to happen for me. I cannot even begin, but where to start?! I guess probably at the beginning of 2008!
I started off the year a bit distraught from my bad experience working at a major airline. I had to leave for unfortunate reasons, so I was left without a job and not in school. I had spent rest of 2007 sitting at home on the computer doing nothing. Life was wasting away and fast. I didn’t like it. I was a bit confused in my life right now. I was about to turn 21 in Feb and a lot of the goals I had set for myself personally hadn’t been accomplished yet.
I always knew I was bisexual at least, I never questioned that. I stumbled by happen chance to a website about a deaf man who was also gay. Hmmh, to my surprise there was someone else like me?! I know that was probably a stupid question but for a guy who lived entirely in the hearing world, and where being gay was still not the most open thing ever, I was shocked to see it. I logged on to his website started talking to him and grilled him 50 million questions. I couldn’t believe it, I met another gay man who was also deaf too!
I met so many more deaf people online. In 2008 I met more deaf people online or in person then any other year as far as I can remember all thanks to Seekgeo’s site, www.seekgeo.com I of course had to go visit him and his boyfriend Jes to hang out and be around someone else who was deaf like me. As I had never had that.
I began to meet more gay people in the spring but not deaf just hearing. I soon found my comfort level and was amazed to meet and hang with people who were also Gay and bisexual like me. We had things in common and that was great to me. But alas, I was still alone and lonely. No girl or guy really gave me a chance to date me or try me out or anything.
Then one Sunday after work, the weight of being gay weighed on me and I broke down and cried. Not ashamed that I was gay, but the fact I was hiding it from my mom. I couldn’t stand lying anymore. The people I was seeing, where I was going. I wanted to be able to say I lived a life of truth. To quote a guy I know from a TV show I watched “I have been called names, had stuff thrown at me, and been humiliated but if there is one thing I can say above the rest, is that I never, ever had to live a lie” I agreed and wanted to be like him.
So come June 26th, 2008, ironically pride day in St. Louis, I came out to my mother and to any other friend who wanted to know or asked me. My mother then said, “well finally it’s about damn time, do I need to buy you condoms? When can we go to the gay bar?” I was so relieved, and was mad I hid it for this long. Of course she was ok with it, she already knew! She just wanted me to tell her on my own time.
The rest of the summer went ok, continued to hang with friends I went to a gay bar too which wasn’t to bad either! I traveled a bit more, meeting more people when possible.
Then in September I met a guy. I don’t know where we are right now but he is a great guy, cute I might add ha-ha, and we are enjoying the time together and that really is all I can ask.
I think 2008 turned out better for me then I expected. I learned SO much from that year from friends and families, met so many people in just 12 months, and finally met someone who is giving me a chance. Where will it go? I don’t know, I may have my heart broken by him or I may end up moving with him. I don’t know, just go with the flow is all I can say.
2009 may be harder for me, now that I am out, and seeing a guy, I stand to lose a lot for those who are against gay people. But to those who don’t want to get to know me because of that, it is entirely their loss and I don’t aim to waste my time with them. I do look forward to 2009 more now that I met a lot more of my goals and setting up new ones for myself.
So, thanks 2008 for teaching me a lot, and 2009 I welcome you with open arms and hope whatever happens in 2009, it was done in my best interest, and I will know in the end why the things that happened, happened.
Alex
I started off the year a bit distraught from my bad experience working at a major airline. I had to leave for unfortunate reasons, so I was left without a job and not in school. I had spent rest of 2007 sitting at home on the computer doing nothing. Life was wasting away and fast. I didn’t like it. I was a bit confused in my life right now. I was about to turn 21 in Feb and a lot of the goals I had set for myself personally hadn’t been accomplished yet.
I always knew I was bisexual at least, I never questioned that. I stumbled by happen chance to a website about a deaf man who was also gay. Hmmh, to my surprise there was someone else like me?! I know that was probably a stupid question but for a guy who lived entirely in the hearing world, and where being gay was still not the most open thing ever, I was shocked to see it. I logged on to his website started talking to him and grilled him 50 million questions. I couldn’t believe it, I met another gay man who was also deaf too!
I met so many more deaf people online. In 2008 I met more deaf people online or in person then any other year as far as I can remember all thanks to Seekgeo’s site, www.seekgeo.com I of course had to go visit him and his boyfriend Jes to hang out and be around someone else who was deaf like me. As I had never had that.
I began to meet more gay people in the spring but not deaf just hearing. I soon found my comfort level and was amazed to meet and hang with people who were also Gay and bisexual like me. We had things in common and that was great to me. But alas, I was still alone and lonely. No girl or guy really gave me a chance to date me or try me out or anything.
Then one Sunday after work, the weight of being gay weighed on me and I broke down and cried. Not ashamed that I was gay, but the fact I was hiding it from my mom. I couldn’t stand lying anymore. The people I was seeing, where I was going. I wanted to be able to say I lived a life of truth. To quote a guy I know from a TV show I watched “I have been called names, had stuff thrown at me, and been humiliated but if there is one thing I can say above the rest, is that I never, ever had to live a lie” I agreed and wanted to be like him.
So come June 26th, 2008, ironically pride day in St. Louis, I came out to my mother and to any other friend who wanted to know or asked me. My mother then said, “well finally it’s about damn time, do I need to buy you condoms? When can we go to the gay bar?” I was so relieved, and was mad I hid it for this long. Of course she was ok with it, she already knew! She just wanted me to tell her on my own time.
The rest of the summer went ok, continued to hang with friends I went to a gay bar too which wasn’t to bad either! I traveled a bit more, meeting more people when possible.
Then in September I met a guy. I don’t know where we are right now but he is a great guy, cute I might add ha-ha, and we are enjoying the time together and that really is all I can ask.
I think 2008 turned out better for me then I expected. I learned SO much from that year from friends and families, met so many people in just 12 months, and finally met someone who is giving me a chance. Where will it go? I don’t know, I may have my heart broken by him or I may end up moving with him. I don’t know, just go with the flow is all I can say.
2009 may be harder for me, now that I am out, and seeing a guy, I stand to lose a lot for those who are against gay people. But to those who don’t want to get to know me because of that, it is entirely their loss and I don’t aim to waste my time with them. I do look forward to 2009 more now that I met a lot more of my goals and setting up new ones for myself.
So, thanks 2008 for teaching me a lot, and 2009 I welcome you with open arms and hope whatever happens in 2009, it was done in my best interest, and I will know in the end why the things that happened, happened.
Alex
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Cued Speech Vlog/Blog
Hello All!
Lots of you all who read know I do cued speech. However I am only fluent in I am able to read it. It is quite fascinating to read and see because you can compare the mass difference between ASL and Cued.
I asked a buddy of mine who is also fluent in both ASL and Cued and he happily obliged to do a tiny Cued clip to show us all what it's like. I thought we have vlogs in ASL, lets have one in Cued!
Thanks again for doing this.
Lots of you all who read know I do cued speech. However I am only fluent in I am able to read it. It is quite fascinating to read and see because you can compare the mass difference between ASL and Cued.
I asked a buddy of mine who is also fluent in both ASL and Cued and he happily obliged to do a tiny Cued clip to show us all what it's like. I thought we have vlogs in ASL, lets have one in Cued!
Thanks again for doing this.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Voting for the First Time
November fourth was truly an amazing and historic day. No matter who you chose history was going to be made. I was able to vote for the first time in my life as a 21 year old. I reside in Southern Illinois, which is primarily a Republic area, while central and north Illinois was primarily democratic. Everyone urged me and others to vote. I have to admit it kind of got a bit annoying though. While yes we have the right to vote, and people fought for the right, let me remind you they also fought for us to have the CHOICE. We have great freedom in being able to decide if we want to vote or not. Do not look down on those who chose not to vote, that is their RIGHT as much as it is yours to vote too. Those who did not vote should not be looked down upon or that entirely defeats the point of living in this great country of ours.
Now as I mentioned earlier I did decide to vote simply because of what was being offered here. This was history in the making. I was deciding between an African-American president on the democratic side and also the possibility of the first woman vice president too. No matter the outcome and I truly was looking forward to seeing who own, it was going to be historical and it was going to be in our kids social studies books. So I wanted to be able to vote in this election and help decide along with everyone else whom I believed would serve us best as the president.
I walked into the building and it at first didn’t really mean much to me. It wasn’t hitting me so to speak; after all I was simply filling out a ballot and then sending it off. However I opened the ballot and looked and was struck at the power I had under me. I saw names you wouldn’t expect to see appear. A woman name under the vice president ballot. A name belonging to an African American as a president ballot. It was just amazing to me and immediately I felt a sense of pride almost.
I put down my choices and put it in the ballot. The woman said thanks so much and she mentioned if it was my first time? I said yes how did you know? She goes your smile, its showing pride. With that I held my head up high and walked out of the building almost wanting to tear up because of the freedom we have to do so many things in this country.
When we got the outcome of the president, and who won, I was anxious to hear the speech. McCain gave an outstanding speech. He showed great, and immense respect to acknowledge that the USA had spoken. Courage and respect and triumphant was shown. He spoke with honor and I was almost just as proud to know he had a part in this campaign and did his own service for the United States. For that, I thank you McCain and good luck to you in anything else you do. He said it best that the families probably suffered more than the candidates themselves and I certainly agree.
It was on to Obama’s speech, and I couldn’t help but swell in pride and agree on many things. First off the bat, he mentioned the word “gay” in his speech. I don’t care where you come from, that is just honorable. It is a bit sad that HAS to be a big deal for him to be able to mention that word, but he did. There was no booing from anyone, and it was probably nice to hear him include that word along with everybody else, white, black, Jewish, Asian, straight or gay. I agreed with everyone else, change DID happen to America,
I believe we finally as a Country matured enough to be able to accept having Obama as a president and the popular vote and electoral vote proved that too. I am sure it was great for the African Americans to see one of their own get elected and I as a white person couldn’t be more proud of them too. They fought through a lot and they truly do deserve to finally have a president too.
One remark I heard from someone on TV a black person who was being interviewed, said, “we didn’t just elect a black president, we elected a white and black president. He hoped this showed that blacks and whites as well as anyone else could finally come together in this great country. Obama represents both of us, white and black. We should proud of that too.
I was disappointed to see results of other elections such as the events in CA, AZ and FL. However was really irked me was to see Arkansas make a new rule not allowing ANY single person to adopt a child or have foster kids. The target was gay people however I guess to be “equal” they included straight, single people too.
“Arkansas voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays and lesbians were their main target.”
LINK HERE
Anyhow, for those who voted, thank you for doing so. For those who didn’t, there is another one in four years! Congratulations to Obama and his family for this great accomplishment. McCain, I wish you the best of luck in whatever you do. I look forward to the next four years.
Alex
Now as I mentioned earlier I did decide to vote simply because of what was being offered here. This was history in the making. I was deciding between an African-American president on the democratic side and also the possibility of the first woman vice president too. No matter the outcome and I truly was looking forward to seeing who own, it was going to be historical and it was going to be in our kids social studies books. So I wanted to be able to vote in this election and help decide along with everyone else whom I believed would serve us best as the president.
I walked into the building and it at first didn’t really mean much to me. It wasn’t hitting me so to speak; after all I was simply filling out a ballot and then sending it off. However I opened the ballot and looked and was struck at the power I had under me. I saw names you wouldn’t expect to see appear. A woman name under the vice president ballot. A name belonging to an African American as a president ballot. It was just amazing to me and immediately I felt a sense of pride almost.
I put down my choices and put it in the ballot. The woman said thanks so much and she mentioned if it was my first time? I said yes how did you know? She goes your smile, its showing pride. With that I held my head up high and walked out of the building almost wanting to tear up because of the freedom we have to do so many things in this country.
When we got the outcome of the president, and who won, I was anxious to hear the speech. McCain gave an outstanding speech. He showed great, and immense respect to acknowledge that the USA had spoken. Courage and respect and triumphant was shown. He spoke with honor and I was almost just as proud to know he had a part in this campaign and did his own service for the United States. For that, I thank you McCain and good luck to you in anything else you do. He said it best that the families probably suffered more than the candidates themselves and I certainly agree.
It was on to Obama’s speech, and I couldn’t help but swell in pride and agree on many things. First off the bat, he mentioned the word “gay” in his speech. I don’t care where you come from, that is just honorable. It is a bit sad that HAS to be a big deal for him to be able to mention that word, but he did. There was no booing from anyone, and it was probably nice to hear him include that word along with everybody else, white, black, Jewish, Asian, straight or gay. I agreed with everyone else, change DID happen to America,
I believe we finally as a Country matured enough to be able to accept having Obama as a president and the popular vote and electoral vote proved that too. I am sure it was great for the African Americans to see one of their own get elected and I as a white person couldn’t be more proud of them too. They fought through a lot and they truly do deserve to finally have a president too.
One remark I heard from someone on TV a black person who was being interviewed, said, “we didn’t just elect a black president, we elected a white and black president. He hoped this showed that blacks and whites as well as anyone else could finally come together in this great country. Obama represents both of us, white and black. We should proud of that too.
I was disappointed to see results of other elections such as the events in CA, AZ and FL. However was really irked me was to see Arkansas make a new rule not allowing ANY single person to adopt a child or have foster kids. The target was gay people however I guess to be “equal” they included straight, single people too.
“Arkansas voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays and lesbians were their main target.”
LINK HERE
Anyhow, for those who voted, thank you for doing so. For those who didn’t, there is another one in four years! Congratulations to Obama and his family for this great accomplishment. McCain, I wish you the best of luck in whatever you do. I look forward to the next four years.
Alex
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Sucker Balls
Hello my friends! How was Halloween for everyone? I had a great time. October was an awesome month for me, getting to meet few friends and traveling once again to Philly and New Jersey. It seems every month I like to start it off with a bang about something funny with me. Today was absolutely NO exception.
First, I want to explain a bit about my hearing and how I understand people. While I am oral and can speak fluent English and read lips pretty darn well, even from the sides sometimes. I met a man who challenged me to no end. It certainly wasn’t any anal rice as abbie graciously shared with us. However this certainly was on par with sexual innuendos.
I was sitting at work on my laptop minding my own business when this young college student walks in. I spoke up and said, “Good afternoon how can I help you?”
He walked around and said something but because I read lips I couldn’t understand him. I asked him “Pardon?”
He turned to me and said, “Do you sell any sucker --*incoherent word*?”
I was almost taken aback at this request and was convinced I was not hearing him or reading his lips correctly. All I caught was sucker something.
I said, “Excuse me I didn’t understand what did you ask?” I recognize he had a heavy accent from what seemed to be Nigerian or somewhat.
He said “sucker balls (in my head OH BALLS!), do you sell any sucker balls I need one to play with today”
My eyes just rose at this young man. I was thinking really dirty stuff of course i.e., is this man gay and he is bored and wants something to suck on? Or better yet he hasn’t “had any” and he is desperate? I was like this isn’t a sex shop here!
So I once again asked him to repeat one more time, and this time I straightened up, flared my nose and burrowed my eyes to focus right on his lips. Trying all my powers to hear and pick up everything he was saying. And what came out of his mouth.
“I said, do you have any sucker balls? You know that you bounce and play with sometimes”
Now I am convinced he is being serious at this point. Without trying to embarrass myself and probably more than likely misunderstanding him I asked him to describe it. I thought maybe he was thinking of a candy they suck or something.
I said, “Sir, can you describe this sucker ball? Is this something you eat, lick or what?”
Now HE was taken aback and stared at me like I was the idiot and didn’t have a stinking clue what he was saying. He probably was thinking, “ok this boy is strange asking about my balls or something!”
I just stared at him with the utmost respect and straight face I could manage to keep my composure trying not to laugh at the ideas raging through my head. Over and over I was thinking sucker balls, sucker balls, what on earth…
He then said “No! These balls are black and white sometimes you can kick them-- *he then proceeds to stand back and attempt a field goal kick in front of me which if there really was a sucker ball he would have done so--* ,and score with them!”
“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! SOCCER BALLS” I yelled, probably scaring the balls out of him! I continued, “Oh you mean soccer balls!!! Ok I get it now—and no we don’t, sorry”
He looked at me probably trying to figure out if he should run for it now or laugh at me. Either way, I wouldn’t have blamed him at this moment.
He continued and said, “Yes yes, now you understand SUCKER BALL (I still was hearing and reading sucker..Oy!). He then asked, “Do you have any sucker teams?”
At this point I let out a HAHA and immediately clamped my mouth shut. I could have said so many jokes at this point but I felt the poor guy had been through enough with me. I told him “no I don’t believe we have any soccer teams around here”
He thanked me for my time and told me I should speak to the manager about getting those sucker balls. Apparently, they sell well around here.
Alex
First, I want to explain a bit about my hearing and how I understand people. While I am oral and can speak fluent English and read lips pretty darn well, even from the sides sometimes. I met a man who challenged me to no end. It certainly wasn’t any anal rice as abbie graciously shared with us. However this certainly was on par with sexual innuendos.
I was sitting at work on my laptop minding my own business when this young college student walks in. I spoke up and said, “Good afternoon how can I help you?”
He walked around and said something but because I read lips I couldn’t understand him. I asked him “Pardon?”
He turned to me and said, “Do you sell any sucker --*incoherent word*?”
I was almost taken aback at this request and was convinced I was not hearing him or reading his lips correctly. All I caught was sucker something.
I said, “Excuse me I didn’t understand what did you ask?” I recognize he had a heavy accent from what seemed to be Nigerian or somewhat.
He said “sucker balls (in my head OH BALLS!), do you sell any sucker balls I need one to play with today”
My eyes just rose at this young man. I was thinking really dirty stuff of course i.e., is this man gay and he is bored and wants something to suck on? Or better yet he hasn’t “had any” and he is desperate? I was like this isn’t a sex shop here!
So I once again asked him to repeat one more time, and this time I straightened up, flared my nose and burrowed my eyes to focus right on his lips. Trying all my powers to hear and pick up everything he was saying. And what came out of his mouth.
“I said, do you have any sucker balls? You know that you bounce and play with sometimes”
Now I am convinced he is being serious at this point. Without trying to embarrass myself and probably more than likely misunderstanding him I asked him to describe it. I thought maybe he was thinking of a candy they suck or something.
I said, “Sir, can you describe this sucker ball? Is this something you eat, lick or what?”
Now HE was taken aback and stared at me like I was the idiot and didn’t have a stinking clue what he was saying. He probably was thinking, “ok this boy is strange asking about my balls or something!”
I just stared at him with the utmost respect and straight face I could manage to keep my composure trying not to laugh at the ideas raging through my head. Over and over I was thinking sucker balls, sucker balls, what on earth…
He then said “No! These balls are black and white sometimes you can kick them-- *he then proceeds to stand back and attempt a field goal kick in front of me which if there really was a sucker ball he would have done so--* ,and score with them!”
“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! SOCCER BALLS” I yelled, probably scaring the balls out of him! I continued, “Oh you mean soccer balls!!! Ok I get it now—and no we don’t, sorry”
He looked at me probably trying to figure out if he should run for it now or laugh at me. Either way, I wouldn’t have blamed him at this moment.
He continued and said, “Yes yes, now you understand SUCKER BALL (I still was hearing and reading sucker..Oy!). He then asked, “Do you have any sucker teams?”
At this point I let out a HAHA and immediately clamped my mouth shut. I could have said so many jokes at this point but I felt the poor guy had been through enough with me. I told him “no I don’t believe we have any soccer teams around here”
He thanked me for my time and told me I should speak to the manager about getting those sucker balls. Apparently, they sell well around here.
Alex
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Abbie Experience Part 2
Saturday, Oct 18th, 2008. The day Alex gets’s the full treatment of, “The Abbie Experience”. Ladies and Gentleman I cannot begin to tell you what a joy it was to meet this wonderful woman. We clicked immediately online and in person. I have read her blogs, and we truly have the most absolute hysterical moments online as well as her blogs. This certainly didn’t fail for me at all today. Sure enough in due time we immediately launched into what I call “Operation Alex and Abbie Field Day”.
It started when we went to get coffee. Coffee of course should be like any normal time and day right? Walk in, order your drink and food and off we go! No biggie! Wrong-o! Not with Abbie and Alex in tow! We left the restaurant and settled in the car. As we pulled out, immediately I panicked thinking I lost my sunglasses. Where are they?! OMG I can’t find them! I looked and looked and suddenly saw it in my coat pocket as abbie cleverly suggested to look. Ok great time to go! “Wait now where MY sunglasses” came from Abbie. By this time I just laughed and goes of course, now see what its like to lose glasses! She found hers in due time and NOW we were ready to set off to go walk 3 miles!
We drove out to the area after getting gas, which by the way did you know in New Jersey you cannot pump your own gas?! I kid you not! I was fairly stumped, and it launched into a story and conversation about pumping gas on your own or having someone else do it for you! Naturally funny stories came out of this conversation as well. Abbie was quick to notice my cute, non-southern accent of what seemed to tip of as British Accent. I don’t know why, how or where, but it never fails. Everywhere I go it is always “oh you speak British are you from London?” Me “uh No…” Anyhow, we arrived at the park and set out to sign up and such and get our wristbands that Abbie had posted a picture of.
We met some people that Abbie mentioned on her blog as well so I was happily meeting some new people as well. All these folks were so nice and welcoming and it is always a great time to meet new people too. However out of the corner of my eye I saw something yellow fly by at quick speed. It was around my head, and Wayne one of the guys around me gently brushed it away. No big deal. However the yellow jacket came flying back and decided Abbie would be the next target.
It buzzed around and around and dived for abbie. She ran away and brushed it off. I of course laugh my ass off once again. However this yellow jacket meant some serious business. In no time it went after Abbie and dived into her shirt, which I saw but abbie didn’t notice, as she was so busy flailing her arms. She calmed down and we thought the yellow jacket was gone! Problem solved we got back into conversation when- “Ow, shit something bit me!” And like the dreams of every straight guy on planet earth, a beautiful gorgeous woman starts stripping.
Actually, it was more like gasping, then flailing of arms once more again. A bit of slap here and there, some legs danced up and down, no, nothing sexual at all. Just good ol abbie trying to avoid another admirer however in the shape of a yellow jacket. Within seconds abbie gave all of us an amazing strip show, she flung her jacket down. Peeled her left shirt down over the shoulder trying to find this darned yellow jacket. I am by now of course laughing hysterically, smiling having a great time at Abbie’s expense. Plus a wonderful strip show to boot! As abbie kindly mentioned on the walk, it went from being a deaf walk to more of a catwalk on the runway! I give abbie a ten for the amazing show!
Anyhow, we finally could get the walk started. A woman gave us a speech, and she started the speech of with “Ok, I don’t know if anyone can hear me but.” to which I did an unexpected snort laughing at the irony of what she just said to us. However I calmed down and continued to listen to the speech. All this while Abbie is madly typing away on her blackberry to ensure she was not going to die from being stung by a yellow jacket and she could continue the “cat” walk as planned!
Once she was convinced she was not going to die, she was not allergic to the yellow jacket; we set off with our walk, abbie, myself and Wayne in tow. This made for a great walk and conversation as Wayne and I were both into planes and aviation, leaving abbie clueless on how to talk “plane-ese” and chimed in when she could relate something to her Reno trip and her misfortunes of flying incidents. Hehehehe.
We continued the walk, talking, getting to know each other, sharing stories. It truly was a wonderful time! However we had to figure out how to set up our walk positions. Wayne had a CI on his right side, while Abbie had a CI on her left side. I am bilateral with hearing aids so I was stuck in the middle between them, with Wayne being on my left and abbie on my right! Why, I ask do I wind up in the middle? :-P
We then soon ran into Debbie another blogger whom Abbie spoke with online. She is true to her word as abbie said and an amazing woman to speak with. I truly enjoyed listening to her talk and her beautiful New York accent! We walked back and finished our walk. We grabbed some food and chatted some more. Within seconds, another yellow jacket appeared! My Lord, them yellow jacket must gossip or something and told them jackets about Miss Abbie ha-ha They went after Abbie again, but this time went by Debbie. Debbie RAN like hell and the jacket went after her, I am screaming it’s the apple DROP the apple! It seemed the yellow jacket liked apples! Debbie comes running back and Abbie who must be visually impaired now too screamed it’s on the apple, drop it, it’s on the apple! However closer inspection once Debbie returned saw abbie was actually seeing the stem of the apple.
Yellow jacket was gone and we were all settled once and all. We took a picture of our wristbands, which again abbie posted. It was time to go home and grab some lunch before hitting Six Flags! Lunch was pretty normal as normal can be in the household of Abbie! She was in the hallway fixing the window and I came up to her to show her something on the blackberry. You know how us blackberry users always have our nose in it trying and checking things out. Just as I walked up to her and commented something about the blackberry, she slammed a lever down on the window with such a loud CRACK as she pulled it down and as quickly as she did that and made such a loud noise she turned and looked at me with the most sincere “Ya?!”. I immediately burst out laughing as did she and I just started crying, Usual, typical Abbie reaction!
We made our way to six flags, discussing the difference between a Quad and a 4-Wheeler. Also farm machines, which is known in my area, however not so with her. We arrive to six flags and I am ready to start the day of riding coasters! Yee Haw! We set our for rides only to find…broken. Not working. Broken…3-5 rides were all broken or being tested or something. This was not turning out to be a good day ha-ha. We wanted to go on Kingda Ka, as we both had never been on it. It was and I quote…” Experience the thrill of a lifetime as you shoot 45 stories high at 128 mph on our world-record-breaking Kingda Ka — the tallest, fastest roller coaster on Earth.” However this was gonna be a three hour wait, NO THANKS!
We moved on to other rides, riding some virtual ride, as well as the dark knight. All fun rides but we still wanted Kingda Ka. We set on to go on Batman. It was said to be a 120 min wait however this really didn’t turn out to be that long. Abbie is texting her buddies as I text mine when out of the corner of my eye I see a raccoon, a four legged furry animal raccoon hopping across the lawn into some tree area. A big commotion was made with some other people and Abbie fearing the worst after her yellow jacket rightfully clutched her blackberry as if holding it was gonna ward off anything, and leaped up onto the banister and pushing me towards the raccoon as if I was gonna defend her from it. I looked her with a “you want me to do what now?!” to her responding with a “I ain’t getting no rabies, getting stung was good enough for me!” I half started wondering if she was gonna introduce us to another strip show with the raccoon but this was not the case!
The raccoon scurried around up the tree and then back down and leaped into the garbage. People were hanging around trying to get a picture of this raccoon. It was the first time n my life I ever ran across a raccoon at a theme park, but then again, I had to remind myself, I was with Abbie. We went on batman freezing our Asses off as usual. We made good time to go ride Medusa, which was another fun, and awesome ride as well! We walked around; almost closing time for the park when we saw Kingda Ka was wide open to ride! We dashed our way there for a ride of a lifetime!
We get in line and watching the ride in apprehension thinking are we making a mistake now or what?! We line up to go on the ride; we are the last group of people before they shut the ride down. We sit down and buckle up. The guys come around to check our seats and we are ready to go. He gives thumbs up and we are ready to gooooo-WAIT! STOP THE RIDE. The Hell?!?! We sit for 5 minutes with no word. We are now stuck on the track, “trapped” inside the car if you will, with no freaking clue what is going on. Abbie has her CI out and I am deaf as deaf can be so we are heavily relying on our lip reading to really not much success. We figure something is wrong “no shit?!” and we sit and wait; I mean what else can we do?! We waited a good 20 minutes or so sitting on the track, texting making fun of this situation. We think it is like an Omen now, and others thought so too. About 4 others had gotten off the ride as well.
We just stayed on in the cart, I found a way to blame Abbie for this LOL. Finally we are ready to go, I think…Nope we waited again. Now we are good to go! This ride is a fast ride, and goes straight up near 45 degrees into the sky, you climb over a brief hill, and then you shoot straight down into the ground but last minute curve has you shooting straight across. It is fast, exhilarating and not something I was willing to repeat. I had my eyes closed for a few then it remained open the whole time. Fun ride, so glad it was over and I had to piss like a mother F---. I had to go so bad I was almost crying. As we were pulling up, I started to hear chanting…”ONE MORE TIME, ONE MORE TIME, ONE MORE TIME” I said to abbie what they were chanting and immediately an “ok, no Christmas cards for them from me anymore!” I was like “omg I have to pee and I don’t know if my bladder can tolerate another ride like that!” Didn’t have a choice… with another cry of “ONE MORE TIME” he waved his hand, stuck his thumb and we were clear to go. We blasted off once again and I swore I had pissed my pants. I was convinced I was pissing my pants.
Just as the ride got over we were slowing down, abbie somehow managed to pick her arm and swing it across my face proudly announcing “I found my car there it is in the parking lot, it’s there!” I truly wasn’t very concerned at the moment. I wanted to ensure any of my urine remained in my body until I could pass it in a normal bathroom setting, and that my heart was still beating and blood would come rushing back into my body. Yep, I was cleared and good to go. I couldn’t believe we went on it twice AFTER being stuck on it for almost 30 minutes!
We got off the car and headed to Abbie’s car to head home. This thus ends another day of, “The Abbie Experience”
Alex
It started when we went to get coffee. Coffee of course should be like any normal time and day right? Walk in, order your drink and food and off we go! No biggie! Wrong-o! Not with Abbie and Alex in tow! We left the restaurant and settled in the car. As we pulled out, immediately I panicked thinking I lost my sunglasses. Where are they?! OMG I can’t find them! I looked and looked and suddenly saw it in my coat pocket as abbie cleverly suggested to look. Ok great time to go! “Wait now where MY sunglasses” came from Abbie. By this time I just laughed and goes of course, now see what its like to lose glasses! She found hers in due time and NOW we were ready to set off to go walk 3 miles!
We drove out to the area after getting gas, which by the way did you know in New Jersey you cannot pump your own gas?! I kid you not! I was fairly stumped, and it launched into a story and conversation about pumping gas on your own or having someone else do it for you! Naturally funny stories came out of this conversation as well. Abbie was quick to notice my cute, non-southern accent of what seemed to tip of as British Accent. I don’t know why, how or where, but it never fails. Everywhere I go it is always “oh you speak British are you from London?” Me “uh No…” Anyhow, we arrived at the park and set out to sign up and such and get our wristbands that Abbie had posted a picture of.
We met some people that Abbie mentioned on her blog as well so I was happily meeting some new people as well. All these folks were so nice and welcoming and it is always a great time to meet new people too. However out of the corner of my eye I saw something yellow fly by at quick speed. It was around my head, and Wayne one of the guys around me gently brushed it away. No big deal. However the yellow jacket came flying back and decided Abbie would be the next target.
It buzzed around and around and dived for abbie. She ran away and brushed it off. I of course laugh my ass off once again. However this yellow jacket meant some serious business. In no time it went after Abbie and dived into her shirt, which I saw but abbie didn’t notice, as she was so busy flailing her arms. She calmed down and we thought the yellow jacket was gone! Problem solved we got back into conversation when- “Ow, shit something bit me!” And like the dreams of every straight guy on planet earth, a beautiful gorgeous woman starts stripping.
Actually, it was more like gasping, then flailing of arms once more again. A bit of slap here and there, some legs danced up and down, no, nothing sexual at all. Just good ol abbie trying to avoid another admirer however in the shape of a yellow jacket. Within seconds abbie gave all of us an amazing strip show, she flung her jacket down. Peeled her left shirt down over the shoulder trying to find this darned yellow jacket. I am by now of course laughing hysterically, smiling having a great time at Abbie’s expense. Plus a wonderful strip show to boot! As abbie kindly mentioned on the walk, it went from being a deaf walk to more of a catwalk on the runway! I give abbie a ten for the amazing show!
Anyhow, we finally could get the walk started. A woman gave us a speech, and she started the speech of with “Ok, I don’t know if anyone can hear me but.” to which I did an unexpected snort laughing at the irony of what she just said to us. However I calmed down and continued to listen to the speech. All this while Abbie is madly typing away on her blackberry to ensure she was not going to die from being stung by a yellow jacket and she could continue the “cat” walk as planned!
Once she was convinced she was not going to die, she was not allergic to the yellow jacket; we set off with our walk, abbie, myself and Wayne in tow. This made for a great walk and conversation as Wayne and I were both into planes and aviation, leaving abbie clueless on how to talk “plane-ese” and chimed in when she could relate something to her Reno trip and her misfortunes of flying incidents. Hehehehe.
We continued the walk, talking, getting to know each other, sharing stories. It truly was a wonderful time! However we had to figure out how to set up our walk positions. Wayne had a CI on his right side, while Abbie had a CI on her left side. I am bilateral with hearing aids so I was stuck in the middle between them, with Wayne being on my left and abbie on my right! Why, I ask do I wind up in the middle? :-P
We then soon ran into Debbie another blogger whom Abbie spoke with online. She is true to her word as abbie said and an amazing woman to speak with. I truly enjoyed listening to her talk and her beautiful New York accent! We walked back and finished our walk. We grabbed some food and chatted some more. Within seconds, another yellow jacket appeared! My Lord, them yellow jacket must gossip or something and told them jackets about Miss Abbie ha-ha They went after Abbie again, but this time went by Debbie. Debbie RAN like hell and the jacket went after her, I am screaming it’s the apple DROP the apple! It seemed the yellow jacket liked apples! Debbie comes running back and Abbie who must be visually impaired now too screamed it’s on the apple, drop it, it’s on the apple! However closer inspection once Debbie returned saw abbie was actually seeing the stem of the apple.
Yellow jacket was gone and we were all settled once and all. We took a picture of our wristbands, which again abbie posted. It was time to go home and grab some lunch before hitting Six Flags! Lunch was pretty normal as normal can be in the household of Abbie! She was in the hallway fixing the window and I came up to her to show her something on the blackberry. You know how us blackberry users always have our nose in it trying and checking things out. Just as I walked up to her and commented something about the blackberry, she slammed a lever down on the window with such a loud CRACK as she pulled it down and as quickly as she did that and made such a loud noise she turned and looked at me with the most sincere “Ya?!”. I immediately burst out laughing as did she and I just started crying, Usual, typical Abbie reaction!
We made our way to six flags, discussing the difference between a Quad and a 4-Wheeler. Also farm machines, which is known in my area, however not so with her. We arrive to six flags and I am ready to start the day of riding coasters! Yee Haw! We set our for rides only to find…broken. Not working. Broken…3-5 rides were all broken or being tested or something. This was not turning out to be a good day ha-ha. We wanted to go on Kingda Ka, as we both had never been on it. It was and I quote…” Experience the thrill of a lifetime as you shoot 45 stories high at 128 mph on our world-record-breaking Kingda Ka — the tallest, fastest roller coaster on Earth.” However this was gonna be a three hour wait, NO THANKS!
We moved on to other rides, riding some virtual ride, as well as the dark knight. All fun rides but we still wanted Kingda Ka. We set on to go on Batman. It was said to be a 120 min wait however this really didn’t turn out to be that long. Abbie is texting her buddies as I text mine when out of the corner of my eye I see a raccoon, a four legged furry animal raccoon hopping across the lawn into some tree area. A big commotion was made with some other people and Abbie fearing the worst after her yellow jacket rightfully clutched her blackberry as if holding it was gonna ward off anything, and leaped up onto the banister and pushing me towards the raccoon as if I was gonna defend her from it. I looked her with a “you want me to do what now?!” to her responding with a “I ain’t getting no rabies, getting stung was good enough for me!” I half started wondering if she was gonna introduce us to another strip show with the raccoon but this was not the case!
The raccoon scurried around up the tree and then back down and leaped into the garbage. People were hanging around trying to get a picture of this raccoon. It was the first time n my life I ever ran across a raccoon at a theme park, but then again, I had to remind myself, I was with Abbie. We went on batman freezing our Asses off as usual. We made good time to go ride Medusa, which was another fun, and awesome ride as well! We walked around; almost closing time for the park when we saw Kingda Ka was wide open to ride! We dashed our way there for a ride of a lifetime!
We get in line and watching the ride in apprehension thinking are we making a mistake now or what?! We line up to go on the ride; we are the last group of people before they shut the ride down. We sit down and buckle up. The guys come around to check our seats and we are ready to go. He gives thumbs up and we are ready to gooooo-WAIT! STOP THE RIDE. The Hell?!?! We sit for 5 minutes with no word. We are now stuck on the track, “trapped” inside the car if you will, with no freaking clue what is going on. Abbie has her CI out and I am deaf as deaf can be so we are heavily relying on our lip reading to really not much success. We figure something is wrong “no shit?!” and we sit and wait; I mean what else can we do?! We waited a good 20 minutes or so sitting on the track, texting making fun of this situation. We think it is like an Omen now, and others thought so too. About 4 others had gotten off the ride as well.
We just stayed on in the cart, I found a way to blame Abbie for this LOL. Finally we are ready to go, I think…Nope we waited again. Now we are good to go! This ride is a fast ride, and goes straight up near 45 degrees into the sky, you climb over a brief hill, and then you shoot straight down into the ground but last minute curve has you shooting straight across. It is fast, exhilarating and not something I was willing to repeat. I had my eyes closed for a few then it remained open the whole time. Fun ride, so glad it was over and I had to piss like a mother F---. I had to go so bad I was almost crying. As we were pulling up, I started to hear chanting…”ONE MORE TIME, ONE MORE TIME, ONE MORE TIME” I said to abbie what they were chanting and immediately an “ok, no Christmas cards for them from me anymore!” I was like “omg I have to pee and I don’t know if my bladder can tolerate another ride like that!” Didn’t have a choice… with another cry of “ONE MORE TIME” he waved his hand, stuck his thumb and we were clear to go. We blasted off once again and I swore I had pissed my pants. I was convinced I was pissing my pants.
Just as the ride got over we were slowing down, abbie somehow managed to pick her arm and swing it across my face proudly announcing “I found my car there it is in the parking lot, it’s there!” I truly wasn’t very concerned at the moment. I wanted to ensure any of my urine remained in my body until I could pass it in a normal bathroom setting, and that my heart was still beating and blood would come rushing back into my body. Yep, I was cleared and good to go. I couldn’t believe we went on it twice AFTER being stuck on it for almost 30 minutes!
We got off the car and headed to Abbie’s car to head home. This thus ends another day of, “The Abbie Experience”
Alex
Saturday, October 18, 2008
The Abbie Experience-Part 1
Hello All! It has been awhile since I blogged last time but this weekend I got to meet the wonderful Bionic Woman-Abbie Cranmer. Stsrting with Oct 17th, the day of my arrival! Of course to visit her means to be prepared of a lifetime of goof ups and hilarious moments! It all started the minute I landed right into the Philly Airport! We had it planned literally to the minute, I was due to land at 7:20pm into Philly, but I knew Chicago-O’Hare airport and Philly airport were absolutely prone to delays. So I told Abbie to arrive around 7:30-7:45pm or so. Considering delays and how long it takes to taxi, get off the plane and get to baggage claim etc etc.
With this in mind we were all set. I am in the plane enjoying my snack that American so kindly NOT charges us to eat. We then passed the Cleveland Airport at exactly around 5pm, which makes it 6pm Eastern Time. I started getting worried because I knew about within 20 minutes we would start descending and it was nowhere near this so called 7:20pm arrival time. Sure enough at 6:15pm eastern time (one hour and 5 min before I am scheduled to land) I hear announcement we will be descending for Philly now. Me “whoa shit!” We soon landed at 6:50pm. Exactly 40 minutes early, for once I was not happy to be arriving so early! I texted Abbie to announce we had arrived and she texts back “your kidding me?” I replied “nope!”
The good news though however was we were due to have a lengthy taxi annnnd our gate had broken down! So we were waiting for another gate to open up so we could pull up to it and deboard the plane. Finally after 10 min of waiting we pulled up to the gate. This was now around 7:00 or 7:05pm or so. Abbie said she was still about 40 minutes away. Already the plan to meet up exactly seemed to be falling apart LOL. So I took the time to wander around the Philly Airport, although I had flown through this airport before, always fun to check out airports. The time really did pass though.
In no time Abbie announced she was pulling up and I was standing under the American Airlines and British Airways sign under Terminal A-East and she pulled up with her cute little dog too! Said our Hello’s and threw the bag in the car and off we went back to her place! We arrived back, and planned what to eat. We settled on Asian food and went to go pick it up. We talked all the way to and from and grabbed the food. Came back and chowed down on Asian food. I will never, ever be tired of Asian food!
So then we shot the bull talking and such before heading to bed. I had to be well rested for the next day, a 3 mile walk, six flags and an entire day of what I like to call.” The Abbie Experience” :)
Alex Trude
With this in mind we were all set. I am in the plane enjoying my snack that American so kindly NOT charges us to eat. We then passed the Cleveland Airport at exactly around 5pm, which makes it 6pm Eastern Time. I started getting worried because I knew about within 20 minutes we would start descending and it was nowhere near this so called 7:20pm arrival time. Sure enough at 6:15pm eastern time (one hour and 5 min before I am scheduled to land) I hear announcement we will be descending for Philly now. Me “whoa shit!” We soon landed at 6:50pm. Exactly 40 minutes early, for once I was not happy to be arriving so early! I texted Abbie to announce we had arrived and she texts back “your kidding me?” I replied “nope!”
The good news though however was we were due to have a lengthy taxi annnnd our gate had broken down! So we were waiting for another gate to open up so we could pull up to it and deboard the plane. Finally after 10 min of waiting we pulled up to the gate. This was now around 7:00 or 7:05pm or so. Abbie said she was still about 40 minutes away. Already the plan to meet up exactly seemed to be falling apart LOL. So I took the time to wander around the Philly Airport, although I had flown through this airport before, always fun to check out airports. The time really did pass though.
In no time Abbie announced she was pulling up and I was standing under the American Airlines and British Airways sign under Terminal A-East and she pulled up with her cute little dog too! Said our Hello’s and threw the bag in the car and off we went back to her place! We arrived back, and planned what to eat. We settled on Asian food and went to go pick it up. We talked all the way to and from and grabbed the food. Came back and chowed down on Asian food. I will never, ever be tired of Asian food!
So then we shot the bull talking and such before heading to bed. I had to be well rested for the next day, a 3 mile walk, six flags and an entire day of what I like to call.” The Abbie Experience” :)
Alex Trude
Monday, September 29, 2008
Typo's and Random IM convos
We all know we have done typo's and had hilarious one or two line convos that just have to make you pause... Well I found a huge collection of them and decided to share them with ya here! Hope you have some good laughs!!! Some of these are very old and some recent, these are just a collection of things... also atrude777 is me in other AIM convos.
girl: omg it is so not over rated, kissing is like the biggest thing in my life, it HAS to be perfect!
me: well how do you know what is a good kiss or a bad kiss?
girl: well if the guy does this (makes a fishy face) its a bad kiss, like one of my ex B/F's did. if they passiontaly go with the flow, then its an awesome kiss.
girl :lol ya I can put ANYTHING in my mouth!
me: okkk..
girl: omg, thats not what I meant! gross!! ewww
me- i am laughing sooo hard, it was so funny!!!
Alex-"OMG I realized how much I play the "These boots are made for walking" song. The other day I was missing my boots and I said "where my boots at?" not thinking, and mom yelled at me to stop singing (cause it is a line in the song) and my sister yelled "STRUT URSELF COME ON!" which was the line after u say "where my boots at" and I go "omg iv been listening to this song to much"
Tom: ahh got my 30mins of total comedic stupidity
Alex: u said u were watching it, i didnt know u were on the show too.
Tom: oh funny
Alex: u said u were watching it, i didnt know u were on the show too.
Tom: oh funny
atrude777: etc etc
atrude777: excefcises*
atrude777: excercices
atrude777: excersises
Andrew: no Big Macs for her I guess lol
atrude777: excerzises
atrude777: WTF?!
atrude777: E
atrude777: X
atrude777: C
atrude777: E
atrude777: R
Andrew: nope
atrude777: S
atrude777: I
atrude777: Z
atrude777: E
atrude777: Excersize?
atrude777: lmOA
atrude777: lmao*
atrude777: excercise
atrude777: THERE WE GO!
Andrew: LMAO
atrude777: for the love of god that was really sad
Andrew: No that's still wrong lmao
Andrew: exercise
Andrew: that's how you spell it
atrude777: shut up
atrude777: excefcises*
atrude777: excercices
atrude777: excersises
Andrew: no Big Macs for her I guess lol
atrude777: excerzises
atrude777: WTF?!
atrude777: E
atrude777: X
atrude777: C
atrude777: E
atrude777: R
Andrew: nope
atrude777: S
atrude777: I
atrude777: Z
atrude777: E
atrude777: Excersize?
atrude777: lmOA
atrude777: lmao*
atrude777: excercise
atrude777: THERE WE GO!
Andrew: LMAO
atrude777: for the love of god that was really sad
Andrew: No that's still wrong lmao
Andrew: exercise
Andrew: that's how you spell it
atrude777: shut up
chris: YES it raining
ATrude777: i dont like lord of the rings
ATrude777: and i wish it was raining so im not changing the hoes
ATrude777: hose*
chris: hoes
chris: lmfao
chris: i know what someone is thinking
ATrude777: i dont like lord of the rings
ATrude777: and i wish it was raining so im not changing the hoes
ATrude777: hose*
chris: hoes
chris: lmfao
chris: i know what someone is thinking
ATrude777: PARTY FOR TWO!!!!!!!!!!!
mike: haha
ATrude777: IT JUST TURNED ON!
mike: whos turned on?
chris: *raises hand* :-[
chris: Fuck I dont care, I just screwed her on that car
mike: haha
ATrude777: IT JUST TURNED ON!
mike: whos turned on?
chris: *raises hand* :-[
chris: Fuck I dont care, I just screwed her on that car
chris: do you have Herpas AIM?
ATrude777: herpes?
chris: Herpa2003
ATrude777: ohh lmao
ATrude777: herpes?
chris: Herpa2003
ATrude777: ohh lmao
ATrude777: whats easy did she give u a handjob under the covers right in front of ur parents is that what u were saying?
"friend"- no i had my wee wee in her vee vee
"friend"- lol
ATrude777: HAHAHAHA
"friend"- no i had my wee wee in her vee vee
"friend"- lol
ATrude777: HAHAHAHA
ATrude777: i got an email that the title says LAPTOP-GET THEM FREE
ATrude777: i miss read it as LAPDANCES-GET THEM FREE
ATrude777: i miss read it as LAPDANCES-GET THEM FREE
ATrude777: u wanna know the dumbest thing i did on AIM
ATrude777: i tried to IM my friend natalie
ATrude777: and i hit my own screen name and kept iming myself
ATrude777: and it was repeating everything back
patrickMDW: HAHAHA
ATrude777: and i thought she was mocking me
ATrude777: so i got mad
patrickMDW: alex....wow.
me: so ya kissing is like over-ratedATrude777: i tried to IM my friend natalie
ATrude777: and i hit my own screen name and kept iming myself
ATrude777: and it was repeating everything back
patrickMDW: HAHAHA
ATrude777: and i thought she was mocking me
ATrude777: so i got mad
patrickMDW: alex....wow.
girl: omg it is so not over rated, kissing is like the biggest thing in my life, it HAS to be perfect!
me: well how do you know what is a good kiss or a bad kiss?
girl: well if the guy does this (makes a fishy face) its a bad kiss, like one of my ex B/F's did. if they passiontaly go with the flow, then its an awesome kiss.
me:damn you love those things dont you?
girl: ya this is my first expereince eating one
me: uhm expereince? mite wanna re-phrase that??
girl:shut up, you know what I meant!!!
me: ya, sure did and I winked.
girl: ya this is my first expereince eating one
me: uhm expereince? mite wanna re-phrase that??
girl:shut up, you know what I meant!!!
me: ya, sure did and I winked.
girl: ya I have a big mouth
me: so do I but im big talking wisegirl :lol ya I can put ANYTHING in my mouth!
me: okkk..
girl: omg, thats not what I meant! gross!! ewww
me- i am laughing sooo hard, it was so funny!!!
then she was trying to bite something off her soda, and i said why are you biting that?!?!
girl: im trying to get it off (clamps hand over her mouth)
girl: im trying to get it off (clamps hand over her mouth)
fallenmike14 (8:47:17 PM): what ever sinks your ship
ATrude777 (8:48:01 PM): you mean floats your boat?
fallenmike14 (8:48:05 PM): same thing
ATrude777 (8:48:01 PM): you mean floats your boat?
fallenmike14 (8:48:05 PM): same thing
Ok that's it for now! Hope you enjoyed some!
Alex
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Shopping at Target
Ahhh, the glorious mornings. Waking up to go to work. I went off to Target to do some shopping! I was desperate to go buy the new DVD’S that had come out, Desperate Housewives Season 4, and Ghost Whisperer Season 3. They were on sale which made it all the more better! I also noticed on the tag it said with a purchase of the DVD I could get a 10 dollar gift card too at the cash register! I grabbed both DVD’s, and grabbed some TV dinner’s for my lunch at work. I was feeling quite cheery. My friend matt who works at Target told me a hilarious story about how he thought a raccoon got into his house and licked his face when it was actually a dog… LOL
I then went to the cash register and put down the items I was going to pay for. She scanned everything and the total came up to exactly 100 dollars even. At first I was shocked it was that much and questioned the price going wow that is a lot of money, then remember what I was buying and realized oh that is actually cheaper then I expected. The cash lady then said to me “would you like 10% off that?”
I then realized she was talking about the gift card, but thought she said 10 dollars.
I said “yes” I then expected her to hand over a 10 dollar gift card.
She said “let me re do the purchase and switch it and I can give you the ten off now!”
I said to myself oh fantastic, I don’t even have to come back and she will take it off for me, perfect!
She then asked me to sign some paper work and needed to see my ID, Address that sort of thing. Now I’m like what?! All that for a gift card discount?! I never had to deal with that for my work?!
She then explains how the discount worked and said I should be approved about the card in a few days. Now I am completely baffled, I thought I was only supposed to get a gift card from her…
She is printing all this stuff for me, and I’m signing shitload of stuff still baffled, not even hitting me on what I am doing. I thought this is seriously taking to damn long for a quick purchase.
She goes on to say thank you for my business and that my card will come in the mail in a few days after I am approved! She showed me a receipt where I got 10% off. This oddly enough came up to exactly 10 dollars, since 10% of 100 is ten!
I again thought ALL this for that? Did I mishear her say something? Did I sign some contract and it flew over my head? I walked out of the store, went back to my work to look over what EXACTLY I signed.
I looked it over and realized, oh snap. I signed and got myself a brand new CREDIT CARD from Target, and my purchases I made, 100 of it, but now only 90 dollars (remember 10% off!!!) was charged to this new Credit Card instead of my other one! *GULP!*
Oh CRAAAAAAAAAP. I DID NOT need a THIRD Card in my wallet, no way, no hell! How did I go through the whole thing without an inkling of an idea I was signing for a credit card. Did I not hear something?! Ugh...So now I have a new credit line opened, which I have to figure out how to pay off because the APR is OFF the CHAIN-25%!!!
I then also have a charge of 90 dollars to the Credit Card too. Ugh. You know what the best part out of the whole thing is?
I didn’t get my 10 dollars gift card. :)
Alex
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