Archive for May, 2010

ASL, Week 3: Similes

As I entered into week 3 of learning sign language, I began to realize that I need to be more aggressive with my approach if I want to make serious headway in a year. For this reason, I’m going to attempt to start completing a new lesson plan each week from my ASL books.

As I’ve mentioned before, though, I want to give myself enough time to memorize each new word I learn. Naturally, I can’t simply rely on learning a word in one week and then expecting it to stay in my long-term memory. For this reason, I have been making it a point to go over all of the words I learned in the previous weeks every week.

You can imagine how long this list may end up becoming! For this reason, I’m trying to come up with a method of reviewing the words I learned without having to go back through all of them every week. I’ll let you know when I solidify that method. Read More…

May 31, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Learn Sign Language  No Comments

Anxiety Update

Hey everyone! Thought I’d let you all know about something I just realized.

So I just graduated from college last week (HOORAY!) and my parents came up for the ceremony. Over dinner we got on the subject of my social anxiety. My mom mentioned that I tend to shy away from making eye contact (something she says I picked up from her). I’m considering making an amendment to my “Conquer Anxiety” goal to include eye-contact because I didn’t realize I was so bad at it and I think it’s important.

In any case, something else that came up was the question of whether I am “shy” or not. My step-father had mentioned offhandedly that I was still shy, but have come a long way, to which my dad responded: “Eric’s not shy.” He then referenced the many times that I would volunteer to speak in front of audiences, perform on stage, or sing in public. Read More…

May 26, 2010  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Conquer Anxiety  No Comments

ASL, Week 2: Pronouns

This week I finally made my way to the library and picked up some actual ASL books. Hooray! Now I don’t have to wonder if what I am learning is ASL or something someone made up.

I went to the ASL section of the public library and browsed around. There were a lot of good ASL books (although, not as many as I would have thought), so I grabbed a bunch.

It has been helpful to have all the books around because I’ve been reading up on ASL and learning a lot about not only the language, but the history and culture of deaf people. Read More…

May 23, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Learn Sign Language  No Comments

ASL, Week 1: Hot and Cold

So it’s the first week of me learning sign language. And though I have learned some various signs before, it was never with the expectation that I would retain any of the knowledge.

I figured the first thing to do would be to refresh my memory of the basic ASL alphabet.

Eventually, I’ll get a working web camera so I can post videos of myself doing these signs…

For the most part, I have them down, but there are a few that consistently give me trouble. In particular, I often mix up “D” and “F,” and for the longest time I couldn’t figure out what “H” was supposed to look like (this video shows the sign a bit better, but I started out with some cavemen-like sketches). Read More…

May 16, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Learn Sign Language  No Comments

New Goal: Learn American Sign Language

As I mentioned, my next goal will be to learn a new language. And after much deliberation, I’ve finally decided what that language will be.

Starting today, I am going to strive to learn American Sign Language.

Language has always been a struggle for me to pick up, as it tends to be with a lot of people. Sign Language seems particularly difficult to me because there are so many different signs to learn and interpreting signs rapidly seems like it would be much harder than listening to words. In any case, I figured I’d give it a shot!

I’ve tentatively decided to set my timeframe for one full year with the goal being to have a coherent conversation with a fluent signer. Even with a whole year, I’m nervous. Picking up a new language has always seemed out of reach for me, so I’m happy to be taking on this challenge to work at it seriously.

Speaking of which, I’ve decided to make my goal to be to learn a new word or phrase every day. In other words, pick up 7 new words every week at least. And each week I’ll be reviewing what I’ve learned, so it all stays with me.

Should be interesting. If anything, I’m just happy to be working on something new!

May 10, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Learn Sign Language  No Comments

The Final Assessment

I apologize for not delving deeper into what’s been going on with me and my quest for an anxiety-free (or moderately anxiety-free) life. I admit that some of my posts have been vague, and my methods unclear. The main reason for this is that my methods have indeed been unclear (even to me!)

The process of recovery from an anxiety condition is a largely individual process. You can have allies, companions, and aids, but no one can really share your experience. No one can point you to exactly what you need to do to get better. It really depends on your own personal needs. That’s why there are so many different methods psychologists, psychiatrists, and self-help gurus promote: each one works for certain people and perhaps not for others. Read More…

May 5, 2010  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Conquer Anxiety  No Comments

Honorable Mention vol. IV – Anxiety and Mental Health (Round 2)

Hello and welcome to Street Saint’s fourth Honorable Mention! As usual, I have chosen all of the greatest content from my submitting bloggers and have listed them here for your viewing pleasure.

This month, “Anxiety April” (sorry, couldn’t think of a better name), centered on the theme of Anxiety and Mental Health. Last month also had the theme of mental health, but I got so much good stuff, that I had to do it all over again! Hope you enjoy! Read More…

May 1, 2010  Tags:   Posted in: Honorable Mention  5 Comments

New Goal Chosen!

Congratulations!!

You all voted for a new goal and it has been chosen!

My new goal is *drum roll*: To Learn a New Language!

A big thanks to everyone who voted! I’m going to let you know by the end of the week all of the details (including what language I have decided to learn). If you have suggestions, by all means, send them along!

I’m looking forward to taking on this new challenge and I hope you are too (after all, you chose it)! And remember that you are still able to cast your votes for the next goal starting now, so get to it!

May 1, 2010  Tags:   Posted in: General  No Comments