Ray of Sunshine: Life of a Deaf Person

10-25-2010

2010-10-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

I know I've been putting off this blog for months and it embarrasses me to say that it has been my goal to keep this blog up to date but... I've failed, obviously.

It's a new year and I'm back in school. I'm just thankful that I'm going to university and earning my BA. It has been a challenge so far but I would have to say that I'm enjoying this challenge. I'm learning new things about myself. It's always a new thing to experience everyday. Something that I thought y'all like to hear from me. It definitely has been a challenge so far due to health reasons - I have migraines that doesn't seem to want to go away after a few days and I find myself flat on my back in a dark room, wishing I'd die. But I've discovered a way that'd curb those migraines for a couple of hours at least - I just have to sleep with my forehead pressed against the wall and my room has to be pitch black, and nobody bothers me until I wake up on my own or from my alarm. It takes trial and error for those kind of things, I guess.

My courses at school are going awesomely, I'd say.... I just finished a week's worth of homework in four hours. Why, you might ask. It's because I'm going in to EB Games before class tomorrow to pick up my pre-order of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2.

Yeah, you heard that right. I'm a geek. And I'm not shy to say that at all. I love video games - actually I find myself playing it in my spare time when I'm not doing any kind of homework or finding myself busy with other things. The systems I have currently are a lovely Playstation 3 (40GB HDD, first gen) named Mr. Spock, a Nintendo Wii (white, second gen) named Joe, a PSP-1001 (first gen with a 1GB memory stick) named Han, a first gen Playstation 2 that's named Kirk, as well as a Nintendo DS Lite (my fourth one... don't ask) named Big Al 3. I think that's all of them... that's what I see so far, heh. I know quite a few things about computers as well. I'm able to easily fix problems with HTML and the 'net, if you have any problems that need solving. The same goes for pretty much any other electronics that I'm familiar with. I recently got into the Apple company and I'm considering getting a MacBook or a MacBook Pro in the future when I have enough money to cover the costs. But for now I'm happy with what I have.

I also have two lovely black cats named Cadan and Castiel. They're my precious babies and I don't know what I'd do without them. They do make life really interesting around here. Oh, I also live on my own - and I'm loving it. I live in a basement apartment, the tenants upstairs know me & I'm deaf and they're perfectly OK with that. It does make things interesting at times.

I still don't have a job... and I'm fine with that. I just figure out a way to make ends meet. So far, it's going well. I've faced challenges but nothing that I couldn't overcome.

Ok, that's been a nice update about my life for you guys... hopefully I'll really keep along with this blog! I want to keep a nice, steady roll. Maybe an update once a week or so. :)

I should get going and get some food in my tummy and feed my babies.

12-06-2009

2009-12-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

So, December is drawing to a close now. We had a slight snow storm overnight, which was really pleasant once I woke up and looked out of the window. My first term of my second year of university is nearly over, I just have two exams to write.

I also had a job interview with Petsmart today. I was very impressed with how the employers treated me once I introduced myself and my interpreter - my interpreter only had to say that she would have to sit next to them instead of by me. They took that into stride easily, and the interview went off without a hitch. If you're all wondering, I should be hearing back by Friday.

This definitely gives me hope for the hearing world, since some people that I've met over the years have really shunned the deaf, and the same goes for the working world. Maybe this is the first step towards a change for all us deaf people!

I would like to go over one thing here, which is completely a basic idea yet so important for each and all of us: worlds. We all have our own world, where we feel like that we belong the most. I'm sure that is easy to understand - but I'm speaking from my own perspective here, since this blog is basically about me and my experiences, and I apologize in advance if I've offended anybody.

There are two worlds for me right now - the hearing world and the deaf world. I live in the hearing world 99% of the time. (I do wish that this was different, but I cannot change it, alas.) I don't mind how it is, but I do have my own struggles - I have to shift some of my traits around so I wouldn't be rejected by the hearing people. How I communicate, has to be shifted as well - I can't just go up to somebody hearing and start signing to them, right? They would think I have some form of brain damage (which I do not) so I have to whip out my little nifty notepad and pen. And write down what I want to say, and it all goes from there, everybody's happy. This basically is how I communicate 99% of the time too. I text a lot, I e-mail a lot, I'm normally on an instant messaging program when I'm on a computer - this sometimes is typical behavior from a hearing person as well.

In the deaf world... it's the same as a hearing person in a hearing world. Everything falls into place, I don't have to trust technology or trees/ink to be a handy communicating device. I just need my hands and my eyes to be able to communicate - and this is also where I feel the most comfortable and not afraid to show my true emotions and such.

I hope this cleared a few things up for y'all, and I'll be back with more next time.

You can do it.

2009-11-29

2009-11-29T18:16:00.000-08:00

You are who you are.

I'm deaf. That doesn't make me me. Not in a way, that is. Technically, it does change your perspective of who I am - but after all, once you get to know me, your world will change.

In this blog, I will be writing down the struggles that I have had faced in my life, how I have become who I am now - my gender issues, my sexuality, my mania/bipolar, my deafness, my mother, my friends and how I have come around to beat all of the odds.

If there's any questions, please e-mail me at lanteigne.h@gmail.com, I will take my time to answer any questions. I'll try not to make this as painful as it sounds to be.

You can do it.