Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #238

THIS WEEK IN REFLECTION

The whole week was about trying to learn my new schedule. It’s not just when classes meet, but when I can get into what are called ASL/Interpreting labs, which have cameras, computers, a TV, and DVD player. First, we develop SMART goals. Then, we use these labs to work on the SMART goal. It’s best to record yourself doing whatever and watch it back to look for things to correct. My first goal was to learn basic religious vocab, because I only knew MENNONITE, GOD, and AMEN. We need to have two hours of lab time in addition to class time.

Again, we need to attend Deaf events; however, the first event several of us went to was almost 40 minutes away and, unfortunately, had no Deaf people present. Doh! That doesn’t count. I have many all-day events coming up, though, including a retreat for interpreting majors at my college, Deaf Fest in Fort Wayne, and the Indiana Chapter of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf in Indianapolis. It’s a lot, and I’ve already sent Bill @ Australian Legend an email that sounds like the house is on fire. It’s okay, Bill! The first week is always painful!

There are a lot, a lot, a lot of projects for classes now that I’m officially into the program. I’m interviewing a Deaf person about the jargon of their work, we have eleven guests visiting interpreting class — just lots and lots of interaction. I still jump on and read your blogs when I have a lull instead of scrolling through Reddit, as I have been wont to do in the past. Yet, I noticed that I end up not responding to comments on my own blog. I guess it’s like when moms cook dinner but are the last to eat because they’re looking out for everyone else first.

Added into school hours are meetings I set up with buyers because I’m selling things on Facebook marketplace. Typically, this is painless, and I only meet within a couple of minutes of where I am, so I’m not driving around only for some yahoo to not show up. It does happen. For example, I was supposed to meet someone on Friday at 12:15 because I sold them two old-fashioned meat grinders. I got a message at 12:19 saying she was stopping for gas and then would be leaving her city . . . which was half an hour away. Did she really think I would just sit there waiting? In general, I’ve made quite a bit of pocket change selling everything and anything that isn’t nailed down that I don’t need, and I’m enjoying taking pictures and listing things on Facebook.

I’m also doing better at making friends this semester now that the cohort is fairly solidified. In fact, I made a flesh friend. Who would have thought?? She likes horror movies, and she actually has her cosmetology license, which she got in high school so she could do horror effects makeup. I saw one of her photos and was disturbed in the most delicious way. Her husband was out of town for work, so she came over to our place for dinner and a movie. She had not yet seen Bride of Chucky, which is a must. She even brought me fall-colored roses.

IT DIDN’T MAKE IT TO GRAB THE LAPELS

So far, along with Bill, I’ve read Book 1 of The Brothers Karamazov. I found a brand-new translation, and does it make a huge difference. I tried reading Dostoyevsky’s novel a few years ago and didn’t finish Book 1. I’ve realized just how important the translator having the appropriate context is (which, interestingly, is what we’re talking about in interpreting right now). Now, I see how funny and sad that first book is. Bill and I are reading about one book per week, so if you want to join in, you’re not far behind.

THIS WEEK’S BLOG POST

For the little I cared for Ling Ma’s Severance, it generated a great conversation around the purpose and function of work. Can hobbies be work? Is work for money only or is it fulfilling? Truly, after reading your comments, I reconsidered the way I organize my homework (basically then “when” of it) to avoid thinking about doing more work (which Nick tells me is guaranteed burnout).

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG POST

Time to get sciency. I’m reviewing a work from the Time-Life Planet Earth series: Volcano. You may not think eruptions are interesting, but the basics of how volcanoes work, and a good deal of emphasis on people’s relationships with volcanoes, made this a fascinating read. Some of you pointed out I added loads more volcano books to my TBR; mentions of people and places from Volcano led to my sudden pile on. Review Wednesday.

BOOKS I BOUGHT

Books I paid for (that are not textbooks) since January 2023: totalling $40.63

BOOKS ADDED TO THE TBR PILE

29 comments

  1. You’re doing all this class work and projects AND reading Dostoevsky? Please give yourself a round of applause! I’m glad you have a reading buddy – that makes it more fun! Congratulations on the flesh friend! No small feat. Making friends past college can be very challenging. Hope you have a great week. Melanie!

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  2. Well done on the friend-making! I have one friend I made in my Master’s – she was still living around here when I came back and we’re still friends now, 18 years on from me coming back. We met at library school but now she’s an independent funeral director! It sounds like you’re getting to grips with everything which is great – well done!

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  3. I’m really excited for you about all your school stuff, but also, yikes, it sounds like so much to keep track of! But you made a new flesh friend! “Flesh friend” made me laugh out loud 😀 Thanks for the tip on the new Brothers K translation. The book is one I have yet to read but would like to some time, so I made a note of it! Sadly, no time to fit it in right now for a readalong 😦 Looking forward to your volcano post. You could really go volcano themed–Joe Versus the Volcano, Volcano (movie with the volcano erupting from the La Brea tar pits in LA), My Volcano by John Elizabeth Stinzi (weird but good), and Krakatoa by Simon Winchester (really good!) and so very much more–all volcano all the time! Just wait until the super caldera under Yellowstone blows!

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    • I can’t believe how much Yellowstone MOVES every year. I mean, it’s a lot. Such a wild place to be. I went as a middle schooler, and let me tell you, the people work in that area are dead serious about telling you the rules.

      The Brothers Karamazov is SO long, and now that I’m a solid 100 pages in, I’ve just realized I have no idea who the Karamazovs are…. is that their last name after the patronymic??

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  4. Of course I enjoyed hearing about all the school stuff, but it does sound busy busy busy. I think you did summer school to shorten how long this course will take, so can you remind me when you expect to finish it? Not that I’M in a hurry for that as I love hearing about it all!

    This though, maybe me laugh: “I’m enjoying taking pictures and listing things on Facebook”. I wish you lived closer to me. I would have given you lots of stuff to sell and we could have shared the takings. I would have been happy to do that. I HATE trying to sell things on Facebook Marketplace (or Gumtree) from the start – from taking the photos, and trying to describe the object (perhaps requiring getting out my measuring tape) etc. All so tedious. And then dealing with those scammers – most of whom you can pick and ignore, but still you have read the messages to see if they are the real thing. And then setting up an arrangement with strangers to pass the item over, and the whole security risk there or just being treated discourteously like that person did to you. I hate it. But I’d love to have shared my goods with someone who enjoys it!

    I will be driving to Melbourne when your Volcano post hits the deck but I will try to read it as soon as I can.

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    • I’ll do an internship starting in Jan 2025 and then graduate in May (if I finish gym class). The summer classes aren’t to go faster, but to pay less. If I take 12-17 credit hours in one semester, it’s a flat rate, but it’s expensive. And, if I do 17 credits, I’m not giving myself a lot of time to focus on the ASL/interpreting material in particular. That one oddball class always pulls my attention. So if I do ASL, interpreting, philosophy, and psychology, likely psych would pull all my attention toward it because there’s loads of terms to memorize, which is my least liked form of learning. Instead, if I do ASL and interpreting and another ASL class, and I stay under 12 credit hours, it costs less. The tuition is on a tiered scale. Then, during the summer there are no ASL or interpreting classes, so I’m doing the other things I need so my attention isn’t divided. Plus, summer tuition is as cheap as it gets.

      I have boundaries with the FB marketplace, such as where I am meeting and only if it fits my schedule. I’m not doing an extra trip to meet someone who may not show. I’m already there. I do the photos in front of my plants, so they look pretty nice. I do a photo on the same level as the item and have the lights on. I try to make the descriptions kind of funny, because otherwise, what’s the fun in that?!

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  5. I’m glad you’re mostly having a good experience with Facebook Marketplace. My experience with things like that has been so bad that I have given up and just thrown a lot of things away. Earlier this year I put a lot of old furniture that is mismatched and doesn’t really go with my flat, but is servicable, on Gumtree for free – but I just got a lot of timewasters and people asking if I could deliver (which I’d already said I couldn’t in the ad), then becoming really angry and verbally aggressive when I explained I couldn’t – even though it was literally being given away for free! Then I sold a few tops and dresses on Vinted, only to have someone leave me a 1* review because the top she bought (for fifty pence!) “looked like it had been worn”. I’ve given up on things like that now, which is a shame, as keeping stuff from going to landfill is really important. I hope you don’t have any more experiences like you did with the meat grinders.

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    • So far, I’ve only had two people ghost me. Most have been very positive. A blogger from Australia mentioned Gumtree. I’d never heard of it before that. I have read loads of funny posts about the “beggars can’t be choosers” of free things, saying bizarre comments like, “If you don’t deliver this thing, you’ll ruin my son’s third birthday!!” or other such nonsense.

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  7. I’m glad your house was not on fire after all. I do have paper copies of Bros K., well I thought I did, amongst my father’s books, but I move the ones I think I’ll read and then I can’t find them again. Anyway I have it on Audible, which is how I’m keeping up with you, as long as I have work. The link you sent me, to your translator, Michael Katz, was really interesting, though it does imply we’ll have more religious stuff to deal with as we go along.

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    • I like that Katz refers to his predecessor’s translation as “serviceable English.” I can see how he has made it palatable to the American ear, and in doing so, I’m able to follow along. In the previous translation I tried, I wasn’t even sure where I was half the time.

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  8. School sounds busy! I’m glad you made a friend – friends that you can spend real life time with can make such a difference! Dostoevsky is one of my favourites and The Brothers is probably my favourite of his.

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