Bringing Down the House

Anyone just about bring down the house in class, that is, cause the entire class to fall over laughing? Seems I did it unintentionally a few years ago.

I was still going to the local community college, and I think it was my second semester there. I borrowed a fiber optic cable from a friend and put it in my jacket pocket with a flashlight and went to class. I pulled out both and the entire classroom promptly went to pieces.

I was told later by a classmate that right at the same time I was pulling them out, the instructor said; "...we don't have fiber optic cable so I can't demo it..." I had also completely missed my interpreter telling me what the instructor said. The instructor just kept talking like normal.

Anyone do something like this unintentionally?

Growing up Deaf - Part 13

Going to School - Grades 10-12 - Part 2

Some classes in high school have pretty much stuck with me no matter what over the years.

I had a Photography class where we did black and white photography and developing. I'm still doing photography today. Even though I bought a used manual camera back in college and digital camera years later, I still prefer the manual camera. It's been used for special effects photography like fireworks and dance floor shots using laser light and/or glow lights.

Electronics class was just as interesting. The teacher was a funny person and sometimes had a little laugh with me about my squeaky ear molds. He would sometimes have demos of things and frequent handouts, which helped me out quite a bit. At one point, he had this capacitor charged up to about less than 100 volts, less than its rated maximum. I started going a little nutty when he gave me the leads. "Ah, just hook them up to my hearing aids or my ears and watch them go poof." Then I hold the leads and *POW*. Whoo... We're talking instant body contraction here. I'm fine here, but my heart's going a little nutty as well as my stomach for a bit.

At one point, we have a project to do and I chose to build an electronic organ. Our project tables had power supplies where you adjusted the voltage from around 1.5v to maybe 18v or around that. I kept increasing the voltage on my little organ, making it louder til it pissed off the instructor. I'm wondering how much voltage would have made the circuit pop...

I think it was around my final year when I took accounting. That's pretty much stuck with me as well, as I've found it makes filling out the tax forms easier. At the high school, driver's education may have been a required course, with one of the PE coaches teaching it. With anther instructor, we had behind the wheel practice. I had two other deaf with me, and this instructor didn't point to where should go. He made up flash cards saying "turn left," "turn right," "park," "back to school," and a few more. I passed the DMV's driving test and then the road test on the first try.

Next - Going to College.

Growing up Deaf - Part 12

Going to School - Grades 10-12

Then with tenth grade, my parents transferred me to a small Christian school. This showed that they were aware of the problems I had in the School From Hell. With this school, everyone treated each other better. I had one instructor that went to the hospital for a heart valve replacement and was out for a couple months. The principal was also the teacher in a couple classes. The interesting thing was finding that he lived right up the road from me. I'm pretty much thankful I went. How much worse would the harassment have been had I gone with the others from the School From Hell to a high school they were going to attend as well?

Then we moved to Illinois, and the last two years of high school had some interesting times every so often. I had this history class where the teacher had this habit of walking around the room. I was taking notes on my own, and someone was getting theirs copied at the end of class, so that worked. I was just about on swivels trying to follow the teacher. I had gotten this new watch earlier, and was trying to tame it. Just when I thought I had the alarm off, it would go off. It went off twice in the history class. "If that thing goes off again, you go off too." I finally got the danged thing quit going off. I still have that watch today.

One interesting thing is that I lived close to the school, and could easily run home for lunch and study hall.

The graduation ceremony filled the entire high school gym. Two other deaf girls were in my class as well.

All those moves we had were due to my dad's being a social worker with the children's homes. That meant I wasn't able to make and keep friends for long. He was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma before Christmas 1989, and we all had a wonderful Christmas and final birthday in March 1990 before he passed away in May 1990. It was painful enough watching him go downhill that fast despite medical treatment. He lost his hair, became weak at times, mom had to help him with some things, he couldn't sleep in bed but was able to do so in a recliner, and in his last days, he was on a painkiller drug. Where he worked as executive director at the childrens home, they flew the flag at half-staff and installed a plaque on a little brick wall around the flagpole.

Next - High School part 2

Update: That watch mentioned above I finally retired after 28 years. It still works but it was getting more difficult to open the back to replace the battery. 

Growing up Deaf - Part 11

Going to School - Grades 6-9

From sixth to mid-seventh grades after a move to another city in Florida, was the beginning of the teasing stage, though it wasn't too bad. It was here that I was beginning to get some more socialization with other deaf outside the classroom. There was this interpreter in church, but my signing skills were still not that great at the time> An adult friend and I managed to learn together sometimes by watching the interpreter.

This was also the time when I started having class schedules and changed classrooms. One of the classes that stuck with me even years later was Home Economics. In this class, we did some sewing, cooking, that sort of thing. I'm still doing some of that stuff today, even hand- and machine-sewing. I think I still have a recipe or two from back then. One English teacher was a fast talker, so it wasn't easy for me to keep up with her at times. Another was a science teacher that had laryngitis for a week. I understood her pretty well.

The School From Hell starts in mid seventh til ninth grades when we move to Louisiana. This was also when my brother was literally dragged, kicking and screaming, from home to school now and then. Maybe I should have denied knowing him when people brought him up at school.

Since I was just a little older than they were due to my going to kindergarten for two years, some of these kids seemed to be a bit resentful due to that. Most likely, it was a good thing I didn't tell them about that little kindergarten fact as I'd probably never hear the end of it. One of the habitually overly rude kids said in one class, "He doesn't have a tan" after summer break. The teacher ordered him away from me.

So I didn't, smartass. I didn't tan, I burned. Shall I apply a hot torch to your backside where the sun doesn't shine?

At these two particular schools, they had announcements over the loudspeakers. The good thing is that they printed them out beforehand, and I was able to read them. The PE coach lived up the road from me, so it was an opportunity at times to talk with him outside school.

It was also around this time that I heard about MSSD. I had some printed information about it, but do not remember why I never went.

Next - Attending high school.