Hi Mommy, I'm home. Wanna see what I did in school today? Well today in ASL, we got into teams of three and drew funny looking people on the board. We tried to make them as funny looking as possible. For an hour.

Labels: asl

How have I not shared this yet? Talia shared this with me when we were supposed to be solving a phonology problem set on Turkish about two weeks ago. I've probably watched it 10+ times since then.

I was going to just link it and spring it on you, but that's not fair. I think I have to warn you...it is a youtube video of Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA." Ok, ok, ok...that's ridiculous. BUT it is so much cooler than that! It is not the music video (which I have never seen and don't plan on ever seeing)...it is a guy performing the song in ASL. And I mean performing. He gets so into it. Also, he doesn't directly translate English-to-Sign, he actually translates meaning, so it is more fluent in ASL, and has a more pleasing visual aesthetic (I'm thinking specifically of "I know my future fine" instead of "I know I'm gonna be ok" because of the repetitive hand gesture that is almost like rhyming).

Just watch through the first chorus, and be sure to turn the captions on! You won't be disappointed. (Watch it on mute if you absolutely must.)

[hip swing]

Labels: asl

Nattily(.org), you are being ignored. I've been giving all my html love to the UBallet site, which is totally undeserving. Really, you are where my attention belongs. Also, octopus.

So it is safe to say I'm getting pretty into this whole ASL thing. I'll stop linking everything though, as I imagine that could get annoying. Sorry.

But really, go back and click on "octopus," it's well worth knowing.

Did you know Turkish phonology is terrible? I mean it's just miserable. Don't be Turkish, guys. Just say no. All this glides inserted to break up vowel clusters but then double vowels and even vowel clusters with different degrees of backness in them show up! Uncalled for, Turkish! I won't even start with k deletion.

And my Teach for America interview is Thursday. It's from 9am to 6pm. How is that reasonable? Still, it's my one shot for a job next year instead of grad school, so let's make it count. Again, I'd rather not hear anything negative about TFA until after the interview, thanks. Let's focus on all the great work they do and how IT'S A POTENTIAL JOB instead of the notion that it might eat up college graduates' souls. Oh man...I have to teach a five-minute lesson to the other applicants and the interviewers. It can be anything academic, at any grade level. It just has to have a goal you can reach by the end of the five minutes. Any ideas? Originality would help...alas I have none.

Turkish...you still misbehaving? Yes, of course. Long vowels popping up unexpectedly? You guys were not invited to the dative case party!

And finally...where I need to be right now.

Labels: asl, linguistics, tfa

I will never be bored again. I can now look up random animals on ASL Pro. I think my favorite is camel, but hippopotamus is pretty cool, too.

Labels: asl

;LIADSHfo iaeshi;ljk;lzaegw;g;h gklhK;L KL HklkhljkHKLkjl;aklsdflkaebsh kjlghbkjlghiucxhvb,m3487935268342hjkvihjdsj

n n nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn FNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNKL;AFSD
FAEJ OQ3V2HJOQIH;3






fuck

Labels: asl, school

I got into ASL! American Sign Language WIN. I check the timeschedules site at least three times a day to see if anyone drops. I've been doing that for about a month. I almost didn't check it today. I was sort of in a "why bother" mood regarding the matter. But BAM somebody dropped it and I cmore-d that shit right then and there and now I've had a great start to my day.

Labels: asl, school

SO I'm finally a student again. Alright well I will be on Wednesday anyway. I was finally approved to register for summer and fall quarters, and I proceeded to do so, like a total badass.

This summer I'm taking an art history class called "Art in Unexpected Places":
This course studies public art (including murals, commissioned public sculpture, and experimental installations), art collections, and independent art centers located around the "peripheries" of Chicago--outside the Loop on the south, west, and far north sides, but with a particular focus on Hyde Park and surrounding neighborhoods. Classroom discussion is supplemented by multiple site visits. Readings include studies of the recent history of the arts in Chicago and theoretical works on public and community art. Assignments include an ongoing journal and a group project as well as critical essays.

Sounds relatively interesting. Relatively, since my interest in art history is about none. Maybe that will change.

But that's summer, more fun is fall, when I will be a full time student again.

Because all the linguistics requirements got shifted around, there don't even exist course descriptions for what I'm taking.

• Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology - this should be easy enough, LING 202 last year was basically all about the good old phons. I beasted that quarter with my "LOL" essay, so I figure I'll be all right. Also, Nick might take this with me, which would be pretty solid.
• Language and Communication - I think this will just be your standard linguistics elective. Sounds pretty general. I guess as opposed to Language and Keeping Your Mouth Shut.
• Topics in Japanese Grammar - Yeah. I'm serious. I'm taking a class all about Japanese. It is an elective. I am electing to take a class about Japanese. I'm told no knowledge of Japanese is required (which is good, since I don't have any). I told Lauren she better get ready to hear me start complaining about Japanese again.

I also emailed the ASL prof begging to be in her class, but that was a week ago and I haven't heard back, so I'm guessing that's a no go. If this ends up being my schedule, I'll probably get my PE credit out of the way this quarter (Social Dance, because I can't deal with the woman who teaches ballet/jazz/modern, and Pilates is at 8:30am three days a week). That means I will have M/W/F totally free. So badass. I feel like a badass just thinking about it. Of course, if I had the chance to take ASL I would jump at that shit even though it would mess up my little M/W/F badassness.

Oh, right...the other option. The reason I want to take ASL (one of the reasons) is because a year of it would count for three of my remaining five electives. But sign language is not the only language that does that. My options are:

• Modern Greek
• Kazakh
• Modern Hebrew
• Georgian
• Hittite
• Swahili
• and of course, American Sign Language

ASL is the only class that's full, so I could take any of these others. Do I dare try Greek? It would be kind of cool...but would it be like Japanese? Don't know. I really like the idea of doing another language for a year and only doing two electives. Maybe I'll just sign up.

Labels: art, asl, greek, linguistics, school

Japanese is over! Just finished my final (yes it's only 10:05am) and that means I'm completely done with it. Forever if I so choose, and I probably will choose, thank you very much.

I also have my linguistics exam today. It should be fine, I did pretty well on the midterm and I got this in my inbox yesterday:

I enjoyed your paper: do you mind if I share it? you are exploring new linguistic territory!
John Goldsmith

That gives me an unreasonable amount of confidence in my abilities to do well on the final. But in my minimal preparation for it last night, I read a really interesting article about ASL. I won't get into why it was interesting, because I'm sure in reality it's really boring. I just want to point out that I was interested in it, with hopes that next year will be the same. :)

Oh, and...
I am tougher than I look.

Labels: asl, done, japanese, linguistics, nattily