rabidpotatochip

In a fit of sarcastic irony I almost marked this as not worth doing… I guess that already says a lot. heh

Sometimes it’s really hard to stop thinking the entire world has turned into a bunch of jerks, or that the people at Ikea just want you to suffer while assembling your Bjorn Again desk/bookcase combo. Don’t even get me started on the drive to work…

I’m starting to realize a large part of being patient is simply not wasting time being angry; not letting things get under your skin. The rest seems to be practice. I’ll probably never consider this goal complete, but I will continue to improve on it regardless.

I just finished the first week of a basic sign language course; one that’s meant to be fun and everyone passes. The biggest challenge wasn’t learning the signs or even staying silent for almost eight hours a day but rather learning the culture. I picked up a lot of little quirks that almost made it feel like I was in a different country. The most obvious difference between the hearing and deaf community is that deaf jokes (as in jokes made by deaf people) are pretty much 100% visual. There’s also a lot more bluntness, which takes getting used to.

I don’t consider this task accomplished yet, as there’s still a lot left to learn. I’m not expecting to be fluent, but I’d love to be able to carry on a conversation without finger-spelling every other word. Yikes, Two and a half weeks till the next course…

I grew up on the prairie in Canada, so I could always see them from my yard. It was great; some nights my whole family would stand outside for an hour just watching the lights swirl around and sometimes shift through every color imaginable.

Basically, the pictures, videos, and any kind of media don’t do the experience justice. If you live in the city drive to the darkest, most remote place you can find and watch for a while; it’s worth it.