Looking back on 2014

This was a much better year than 2013, which was a rather stressful year. Graduating was the high point.

2014 led to many more improvements. I was finally able to get started with jobsearches in mid-January. A few interviews came up including one gov't interview. With this gov't interview which was 3 weeks after the surgery on the right hip, even though I asked for an interpreter, I didn't get one. Still wasn't quite the same even though all the questions posed me were on paper. But when the interpreter coordinator heard about it, she passed it on to a couple other people. From what I last heard, up pretty high. It was about 3 weeks later that I had a second chance at interviewing with them, and made the best of it.

I had an internship with Sprint from June to August, right after I went from walker to cane. Though I used the wheelchair to get to and from my workspace, I used the cane at times to get to a meeting room or someone's cubicle. That impressed my two supervisors and it showed on my final performance appraisal. I managed also to improve one of their badly-written documents by updating it with better descriptions and screenshots.

But it was also the entertainment industry where we lost a number of well-known people.

Perhaps our biggest loss was Robin Williams, what with his madcap style of comedy. We knew him from Mork and Mindy, and I believe it was his oddball audition performance that got him the part. Probably one of his best quotes, and he's right...

"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."

And probably one of his best - "O Captain! My Captain!" and "Seize the day!" from Dead Poet's Society.

Thank you, Robin, for being around.

2015 should be a better year for me, health-wise and my jobsearches.

Looking back on 2013

The year 2013 wasn't exactly a great year for me. It marked my graduation at Gallaudet and three surgeries.

While college graduation marks a joyous time for those graduates, it was tempered by my nearly not graduating due to a capstone team member miscommunicating something with the instructor (Teamwork in classes and on the job - Part 1 and Part 2) requiring us to change direction mid-semester right before Spring Break. That plus having to deal with the ever-increasing pain levels due to the degrading left hip joint as I got closer to graduation and surgery date. It did help to inform those I worked with about what was going on with me. My team had a second chance at finishing up our project that summer, but my hip had other ideas, including the team leader also having a health issue, so we were never able.

The left hip had other ideas in a way that required three surgeries within 5 months (June, July, and November). Just 5 weeks after I had the original joint replacement, I had to return to the hospital due to it being infected. The second surgery had the joint be replaced by a wrecking ball of a spacer (Surgery and the Hips - Part 3) which was painful and uncomfortable. I had to have pain pills before physical therapy while in Acute Rehab. Fortunately, that wasn't needed when I moved to the nursing home.

I've been infection-free since the last surgery (Surgery and the Hips - Part 5). I don't need another wrecking ball in me. Physical therapy is going along well. I still have a ways to go before I can walk with and without a cane.

2014 should be a better year. The next surgery on the right hip should be near the end of 2014 also, and should go well.

Hip Surgeries (was Post-surgery knees)

Awhile ago, I came back from the doctor awhile ago and it's just as I figured. I need a left total hip replacement. It's getting more and more difficult to get around. I had to go from cane to walker around the house and wheelchair when I'm out and about.

...and if that ain't bad enough, I need it on the RIGHT hip also...

The good thing is that I graduated from college and will have surgery without interfering with classes. Surgery date is June 17 in the morning. In this case, it's a different doctor than who did the knees. Next posting will have more on the research I did.

Post-surgery Knees - Part 9

Crap...

Double and triple crap...

Just when I've been improving like I said in Post-surgery Knees - Part 8, something else comes up and it's a nice setback.

Seems I may need hip surgery since my left hip's giving me trouble. I'm figuring it's a fall I had in a parking lot that did it while going to an event in the early summer. I was doing good all through the summer up til a couple months ago. Then my ability to walk started getting worse, even using the cane. I just started using the walker for extra stability and it's paid off in less pain.

I had xrays done, and even a radiology friend doesn't like what he sees. I should know more soon with this doc appointment in a couple weeks.

And I was so looking forward to actually walking with the cane to get my degree...

And if this isn't bad enough, I need one more internship to graduate.

Post-surgery Knees - Part 8

I returned to Clemyjontri park last year. This time, I'd left the wheelchair and cane in the other car. I was already over halfway there when I remembered, and even Jamie knew I was in for a bit of a challenge.

Apparently I did better than I thought. I was able to stop a few times in places before continuing on.

I'm wondering if I can actually do the graduation walk this May 2013?

Can't do it if I use the wheelchair too much. Now to get back to my exercises.

Growing up Deaf - Part 16

Attending College - Part 3

I was most likely one of the few deaf people at NTID who didn't have a TTY. My family didn't need it, as I could use voice on the phone and I had hearing aids on. I was able to keep using voice on the phone for a little time til shortly after graduation, then gave up trying as amplified phones were too expensive. I tried a couple things from Radio Shack, but they didn't always help. Speakerphones did nicely for me. Later, I quit trying to use the phone and had a hearing person help out til the relay came along. That meant dialing an 800 number. Cheers of joy were most likely heard when we could use the relay via instant messaging and the web.

Paintball was introduced to me, and I found it to be a rather fun game to play on some weekends. Sure, I had my share of hitting the other team, including being shot in a few spectacular or interesting ways. Another friend was on the other team, and I somehow came across him maybe 100 feet away in the thin trees and despite all our shooting at each other, we never hit each other though his ball bounced off me. My gun jammed halfway through our shooting match when a paintball broke inside. I ran down the hill to a path and I came across the judge who told me that it was the end of the game. Another game I hid behind a dirt 'wall' and kept shooting at this other person, but he managed to nail me first with the paintball bruising the side of my neck before breaking on my arm.

One particular game had us get close up to each other and I was on my stomach on the ground shooting the other team. I was hit, but even after putting my head down quickly after taking a second shot, they were still shooting at me and it took a judge to get them to stop.

Years later, I attended a community college in northern VA, going into their network security program. I was required to take an elective in english or theatre. You can guess what I chose. The class had 3-4 other course sections within, all of whom were studying various aspects of stage. We decided to do Macbeth. Another person and I did some of the lighting and other stage setups. We captioned two of the performances, something the instructor wanted to do. This will be the subject of another blog post, an update of my Poor Man's Captioning (or Subtitling) Device located on About.com.

I graduated in 2005 with honors. The ceremony was at George Mason University. Halfway through the ceremony, the noise started drowning out the master of ceremonies.

Next - Extracurricular/outside of school.