God, I suck at LJing now. It's not like I don't have time to get on LJ. I have plenty of time - it is just that I'd rather be doing other things than write about my life. Journaling used to be a huge part of my life and it's like I have completely forgotten how to integrate that with my life. Sigh.

Last week was another shitty week. On Valentine's Day, I was browsing Facebook when I found out that my favorite professor, Barbara, just died several hours earlier that evening. I was in shock. The first thing I did after finding out was to walk to my closet and take out the bracelet she gave me. God, I still cannot believe this. She really was my favorite professor - I had three classes with her and she was also my boss. Barbara was a PASSIONATE professor - she always listened to her students. I often had outlandish ideas that I was absolutely certain she would turn them down - but she always proved me wrong by grinning and saying "Do it, Janelle! I will be expecting you to do that tomorrow.'" She truly listened to me and she made me believe that my ideas mattered - which was a HUGE rarity among many teachers and professors. The world truly have lost somebody wonderful. :( There will be a memorial service this Sunday, but I don't know if I will be going. I cannot handle funerals/memorial services. I always cry a tad too much. Meh. I don't know.

But there is one thing I know for certain. Barbara would have gotten a HUGE kick out of the fact that she died on Valentine's Day. She so would.

Now with better news.

I got a B on my history quiz. THANK GOD. I really thought I did worse than that. Moments after we finished taking the quiz, the professor called out all the answers and I thought I got 9 out of 20. Fast forward a week later, I got the quiz and it turned out that the professor called out many wrong answers (wtf) and I got 16 out of 20. Freakin' sweet!!!

I wish I have a dancing .gif. Damn it.

Anyway. I tried out the Dragon Age II demo a couple of days ago and OMFG. I seriously wonder how I am gonna survive WAITING. I want that game in my hands now and I want to kill some serious Darkspawn ass and I want to romance Isabela and I want to piss off my Nordic sidekick. March 8th...March 8th...March 8th...

Oooh. And POKEMON is coming out on March 6th. I am going to preorder that game soon. Haven't decided on my starter yet. Hmmmm.

You know what's so shitty about March? Midterms. Three midterms are coming up. Yikes.

On the top of that, I have lesson plans to develop for dance class. And there's also Las Vegas on March 18-20th. And all these games. March is gonna be a busy month for me. Oh boy.

Random pictures!

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Had my first class today: The Chicano Child. The professor was awesome. The class assignments and stuff sounded really interesting. We get to watch movies and discuss about how society put the Chicano children at a disadvantage. I grew up in a large Chicano community and I still feel in the dark when it comes to things like that so I am pretty excited to see how the class pans out. But there's one teeny tiny problem:

I CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE INTERPRETER.

You see, I had her 3 years ago when I was a college freshman and I didn't understand a thing she said. I did not say anything though. I had just graduated from an all-deaf school (where interpreters were hard to come by) and I didn't know too much about what to do in situations like that. She had to stop interpreting for me because her mother was really sick. I assumed she quit or something. Until today when I saw her walking in the classroom. I was like, "Holy shit" but I decided to give her a chance because who knows? Maybe she wasn't too bad.

I was wrong. Big time. Conservation went like this:

Interpreter: Hello?
Me: Oh hi! Here I am. -waves over-
-she sits down and we smile at each other awkwardly-
Me: So..I remember you interpreting for me in 2008 for my astronomy class.
Interpreter: What?
Me: -repeats self-
Interpreter: Oh I don't remember. I never remember....(I didn't understand her after that)
A couple of minutes later...
Interpreter: So is this your first year here?

...

Really? But okay. I let it go because she's just human after all. But then she started signing some words I have never ever seen before. Turned out she's been interpreting for more than twenty years. Most signs she use were from the eighties. For those who don't know sign language, it is a continually evolving language. It keeps on changing and changing and changing. Personally, I hate it...but it's inevitable. We have to keep up. And apparently, this interpreter doesn't keep up. At all.

Look, it's not like I am some ASL Nazi or something. I really don't care if you sign SEE, ASL, PSE, do Cued Speech, or fingerspell. But if you are interpreting for me, I would like you to be able to understand me and I would love to be able to understand you too. Because you are my VESSEL. I depend on you. My grades depend on you. Without you, I am lost. Without you, I am virtually nobody: a mute deaf person who can't read lips for shit.

I really don't know the protocol but I e-mailed NCOD (National Center on Deafness) and told them about my situation and how I want to do well this semester. I HOPE they will understand and replace the interpreter. (No worries, it's not like the interpreter is gonna be fired or anything, if she's replaced..that means she will be interpreting for somebody else)

If they say no, then well fuck. I am fucked.

<td>

You're smarter than everyone else, to the point that you speak in an enigmatic, figurative language that other people have to figure out to understand you. You're a living riddle, and you know how wise you are. People get pissed off by you if you're too esoteric, though. Better stop smoking that hookah for inspiration, and come back down to earth once in a while. </td>