Because deaf people like good food too

Listen up trivia buffs:  The French Chef was the first show to ever be captioned on U.S. tv in 1972, on PBS of course.  Julia is and always will be Queen of TV Chefs.  There is something so oddly captivating about her....a bit on potatoes from her first season.

Sh*t court reporting students say

It's good to know I'm not alone.

One way to keep momentum going

is to have constantly greater goals.

- Michael Korda

Practice Goals

I'm starting simple.  Each week I try to increase the number of pages I submit for homework, even if it's just a couple.  I'm also trying to practice six days a week, even if I can only squeeze in twenty minutes instead of two hours.  Something is better than nothing.  Goals are a great way to measure your accomplishments, and learning theory is all about building on the little victories.  I savor those little victories.

There is nothing like the feeling of going into class and nailing a new concept without hesitation.  And as momentum builds more momentum, I get the undeniable feeling that falling behind, and the frustration that comes with it, is the kiss of death.

I was an accomplice

in my own frustration.

- Peter Shaffer

I find frustration to be my greatest enemy as a student.  You gotta know when to walk away.  Don't let those homonyms and mandatories get the best of ya.

Frustration

although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success.

- Bo Bennett

Guess I'm well on my way to success.... 

Hilarious captioning error

Firefighters have so much to deal with these days....

"Get in their face"

Aka networking.  This is what graduate, court reporter and firm owner Angie Baca said during her presentation last week.  In other words, get yourself out in the field.  Introduce yourself to people.  Smile, shake hands, and make that all-important first impression.   This is what our graduate celebre Wendy did, and she now works for Ms. Baca after interning with her.

As they say, its not what you know, but who you know.

If you have a life

you're not practicing enough.

Bad mascara

Ladies, don't let an eye zit happen to you!  I had to go to school wearing a black eye patch.  A black eye patch!  Basically a pirate eye patch.  You don't want to go anywhere, let alone school, wearing an eye patch.  Imagine being a professional, going to a depo, or worse, a trial, and having to sport a black eye patch.  You can hear their thoughts: where's her parrot and peg-leg..... And yes, it throws your practice.
Moral of the story: throw out the old mascara, don't risk the chance.

 

Wearing that questionably old mascara

Can lead to this

I don't really think

in terms of obstacles. My biggest obstacle is always myself.

- Steve Earle

My secret is

practice.

- David Beckham

(I thought it was being totally hot.)

Audacity rocks!

If you know of a superior voice recording program, please let me know.  Invaluable practice tool.  Makes the "microphone" that is (somewhere) in my laptop sound goooooood.  Super easy to use and it's free.    Audacity

Assembly

I attended my first awards assembly for the winter quarter last week.  It reminded me of a pep rally a little bit.  One lady I went to class with last quarter received an award for completing TEN tests in one quarter!  Impressive and inspiring.

Our director also unveiled the new, redesigned school program.  If I wasn't at the beginning of my theory and was more along in the program, I'd probably be more than a little irritated about switchin things up midway.  We do get two weeks between breaks (likely a mixed blessing), and we finally get a real half hour for lunch instead of twenty measly minutes.  No complaints there.

And I have to hand it to our staff for finding and showing a court reporter funny on youtube.  It's worth the bad quality.

Uh oh

Dear Brain

You can shut up now, and let the fingers do the work for you.  The fingers are in charge now, dear brain.  Follow them, trust them.  Let the memory of their muscles guide you.  Yes brain, the fingers are not always right, but that's okay, because neither are you.  The fingers know what to do, and they can even fix their own mistakes, if you just practice.  Congratulations brain, you can take a few months off from school and let the ears and fingers take over.   You're not needed right now, and frankly you tend to get in the way.

Court reporting vs captioning

A former graduate spoke at our school today.  She now owns and operates her own reporting firm.  Most of what she talked about regarded the details of dealing with lawyers and depositions.  Captioning is beginning to sound more and more appealing....

If yuo can raed tihs

I stumbled (with the app) on this a few years ago.  The principle operating in the text is sorta like the principle at work in steno theory.  Sort of.  But supposedly only about 50% of people can read the text (not sure if I buy that), so one's ability to read this could serve as a sort of litmus test for one's ability to grasp steno code.  Sort of.

if yuo can raed tihs, you hvae a sgtrane mnid, too.
Can you raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

Failure

is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something.

Morihei Ueshiba

A person who never made a mistake

never tried anything new.

Albert Einstein

I know you've heard it

a thousand times before. But it's true - hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don't love something, then don't do it.

Ray Bradbury

On the cutting edge: Phoenix rising

I am so thankful I am learning stenography at this point in time.  From where I'm sittin, now is the ideal time to learn the new realtime theory, Phoenix theory.  Up until the very last few years, stenography writers always had a printer for the steno notes.  Not anymore.  Now laptops and a new theory have replaced the old writers and way of transcribing.  Those reporters who knew the old theory had to either learn the new technology or retire, thus opening up the profession to a new generation of realtime reporters.  Who knew my laziness and procrastination to embark on a real career would ultimately have an upside.  BAM!

I don't know if I could've handled having to learn a new theory after mastering an old one.  I feel for those making the switch, I truly do...

Green eggs and ham

I learned the mandatory spelling for the word egg today.  There's also lots of single-syllable rhyming going on in class.  We even have some Dr. Seuss books piled in a corner.  In honor of Dr. Seuss and eggs, I submit a funny:

The truth about practicing

My instructor said this during the first week of theory.  Takin it to heart.

The first day of the rest of your life

What an exciting week!!  I wasn't sure how I would take to learning the actual theory and method of stenography but I am pickin it up so far!  I know I have a long way to go, but the initial getting-to-know-your-writer period is over and I can say with a sigh of relief that I think I picked the right career move for the foreseeable future!  Whew!

I put quite a bit of thinkin into this possible career path before I committed the second half of my financial aid to a venture that is, ultimately, a bit of a gamble, but so far a sound one.  Can't live life without takin risks.

So what has been a fantasy is now becoming real.  Exciting and a bit scary at the same time!  But I really like my instructor and the support staff at school which is comforting and reassuring.

Monday really did feel like the first day of the rest of my life.  A warm fuzzy feeling.