bekeeblog

i seem to have contracted some sort of springtime cold. but i can't stay home from work because i'm taking friday off to spend the day with kurt for his bday (which is actually tomorrow).

and i don't want to get sicker because tomorrow evening i'm going to see v.s. ramachandran speak at the union and it would be miserable if i were snorting and coughing the whole time.

i've been kinda lax in my braille lately. i haven't even opened up my laptop except for maybe saturday mornings to check the weather forecast. i should be more diligent so i retain more.

also, this design*sponge post reminds me that i wanted to design a deck of cards a long time ago until i realized how much it would cost to print. but maybe i can do a block-printed set... which might not be any less expensive but could be more fun. that might be a good summer goal. i remember learning about why some kings have daggers and other have swords, and one-eyed jack (which made the "gentleman's club" in twin peaks make a little more sense); this was all about 10 years ago.

time is silly.

Posted by bekee at 8:18 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i started working on lesson 7... each lesson reminds me of why i probably never finished my manuscript. it's a very persnickety language. lower sign contractions can't be used in conjunction with punctuation, except for the capital sign, etc, which means you can't use (en) for enough when it's written, "Enough!" because of the surrounding punctuation.

also, i bought yarn for the awesome reversible sweater; hopefully it arrives around the same time as the needles (i had to get those from a different online retailer).

yesterday marked six weeks of fresh air and better health.

Posted by bekee at 8:18 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we talk about some pretty weird things at lunch, but today i joked about a idea that i think might be really cool... a knitted braille poem for hanging display. i'd probably use hug o' war since i have an affinity for it.

Posted by bekee at 12:24 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

got it back today, error free. well, almost. the infringement wasn't quite as harsh as breaking a rule, but the proofreader had to point it out. the library of congress does not recommend hyphenating a word over two pages, and i accidentally did.

so, since it wasn't a broken rule, she indicated, "Thank you for your great work in preparing this lesson and I look forward to receiving Lesson 5."

which brings me to the slow return of how difficult braille became the first time around. lesson 5 introduces whole-word contractions for child, shall, which, this, still, and out and part-word contractions for ch, sh, wh, th, st, and ou, each of which must be used except whe the contraction involves a prefix (mishap) or a non-hyphenated compound word (rawhide).

a friend of mine and i were wondering why computers haven't been programmed to braille automatically, and i think it would be like writing an app filled with exceptions.

imagine user-acceptance testing that mess.

Posted by bekee at 8:07 AM | permalink | licks (1) | tracks (0)

lesson for was emailed yesterday after another thorough proof-read. i wasn't going to peek at lesson 5, but i did; it's gunna be scary.

in other news, i've returned my favorite winter coat to columbia to take advantage of their lifetime warranty. the zipper pull basically just fell apart on friday, rendering the otherwise perfect coat useless. hopefully they don't give me any grief since it was purchased at an outlet.

Posted by bekee at 8:40 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

just got my report back from the instructor. no errors! it's hard not to get cocky, but i will have to be very careful with lesson 4... it introduces all the complex rules i've already told you about.

i worked on it last weekend, and it made my grey matter shiver. so, i guess that's good.

Posted by bekee at 11:17 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

sorry if the braille bores you.

i worked on lesson 4 this weekend; i had forgotten about all the itty bitty rules. like the list of single letter abbreviations that must be memorized. but, can, do, every, from, go, have, just, knowledge, like, more, not, people, quite, rather, so, that, us, very, will, it, you, as. and then there's the whole word contractions: and, for of, the, with... which can (unlike the previous list) and have to be used inside words in which they fall... as in c(and)y. but not if they cross a major syllable division! like professor.

in crafty news, i knit a little bit this weekend with my plarn. it's a very difficult medium with which to knit.

Posted by bekee at 8:21 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

single and double quotes, apostrophe's, parens, and brackets.

i forgot how hieroglyphic braille is... i successfully completed lesson 2, my only error was that i started each sentence in cell 4 instead of cell 3; the instructor said i did not need to resubmit the lesson. i apologized, citing it as a fundamental flaw in my ability to read instructions; she said lots of students get that wrong in the beginning.

so i completed lesson 3 (for the fourth time) and submitted that yesterday. lesson 4 is where it's gunna get tough. there's a slew of single-cell whole-word contractions to memorize.

Posted by bekee at 8:20 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

sorry i've been so mute. life's been quite distracting lately.

i handed in lesson 2 yesterday for my braille certification. hopefully she'll be able to turn it around quickly as i've read lesson 3 several times already.

work has been ok. two huge projects launched in the last 15 days and we've started work on one for next year.

here's me and the dogs trespassing in garver field:

Posted by bekee at 8:07 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i don't feel like doing a whole lot of anything lately. there's been a lot of stressful activity in my personal life; not likely to end soon.

i have to wait until my braille instructor has time to grade lesson 1... it's been two and a half weeks since i send it off... hopefully the future lessons will be graded and return with more quickness.. but i don't know what the capacity of my instructor is. like, does she do this full time? or am i dealing with a student or mom who has more important priorities?

also, work stinks.

Posted by bekee at 3:08 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i have too many social outlets and can't remember where and to whom i've said what.

it's been about a week since an instructor was assigned to me and i have heard nothing, so i emailed her a little "about me" note and asked if i could go ahead and hand in lesson 2 since i had it done and was already working on lesson 4 (no, i did not skip 3, that's done, too). i haven't heard back yet... i hope this isn't indicative of the speed at which i'll be forced to move.

also, this weekend marks nine years with kurt, and seven years married. we'll be celebrating by going to the magnus to try their new scandinavian-themed menu (all local ingredients!), the willy st fair, and an attempt at quitting smoking together. i'll apologize ahead of time if i seem ornery next week.

Posted by bekee at 8:24 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

a friend at work directed me to the perfect frame for my a2-sized poster; since i couldn't seem to find one to fit that size paper on this side of the pond.

i've sped through three lessons of braille, but can't hand any of them in until i get my first one back and get assigned an instructor (or is it a proofreader?). i sent it off on friday, so i'm sure it'll be a little while.

Posted by bekee at 10:33 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

they recommend you proofread braille exercises three times before sending them in. it's thorough, yes, but it's really a favor to the instructor that has to grade it. who wants to look at something riddled with errors?

so, now on to lesson two. that's when it starts to get tough. hopefully i'll get the punctuation memorized and am able to send off exercise two by monday.

in other news, i just picked another 3 quarts of cherry tomatoes.

Posted by bekee at 1:07 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i started lesson two yesterday, reminding myself of the bane that got me the last time around: hyphenating. see, there's a finite amount of space, and brailling takes up a lot of it. so if you can fit a syllable and a hyphen on the line before starting a new one, you have to. but there are all these rules around when and if and how and what. and i could never keep them all straight.

hopefully, this time will be different.

also, i just made a braille cheat-sheet to fit in a pocket-sized moleskine.

Posted by bekee at 8:36 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i forgot about the sheer volume of documentation required to learn braille. i've got all the manuals and codes and instruction book printed out and bound. now i just have to start.

i imagine, soon, i'll begin dreaming in braille. that always happens to me when i start something new.

i'm excited to begin!

Posted by bekee at 10:27 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

after some emails with my old braille instructor, and reading through the course description, i went ahead and submitted the application to participate in the literary braille transcription course.

apparently, the instructor i had now works for the madison school district as a full-time braillist! how cool is that? summers off...

Posted by bekee at 1:00 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)