Stolen wedding moments

Been a long time since I wrote an entry, my mind has been somewhere else lately.

After the Easter holidays, SLS hosted a Reunion ball along with CSU, the event was a success and people enjoyed themselves. It was nice to see old faces and to see that people do appreciate the work SLS does.

Picture of my favourite ladies

        The following week, SLS hosted a quiz to raise money for a local deaf children's charity. A good number of people came and enjoyed themselves. The quiz was hard in some parts but I thought it was fun and a good brain work out too! There was a round about Wolverhampton itself which provided to be popular, testing out the local knowledge!

I attended a meeting in London to discuss the possibility of trying to re establish BDAYouth as there is a strong need for some sort of organisation for young people between 18-30 especially in England. It was agreed that an open forum would be set up.

I watched Phantom of the Opera on stage AGAIN! love that show 

A shameless selfie

I also managed to hand in my dissertation after some initial confusion regarding the module which was frustrating for both the lecturer and myself! I passed this module which mean I can graduate this year!  What a relief. My mum was very very pleased and as a result went a wee bonkers on her Facebook and family email!

When waiting for the results, I had a well deserved rest, as I was feeling slight burnt out. It was exciting for me knowing that Deaffest was happening which meant new films and awards as well as lovely friends!!

I enjoyed Deaffest despite having a very heavy cold and a cough which tired me out too much to attend the evening event. I had a pleasant evening watching the Eurovision, a few months later I don't recall who won! Just that weird vampire bloke and the bloke who sang about working in the IT dept!

My landlord moved to Belgium and now is working for the EUD, when this was made news, I got several requests for renting the spare bedroom which was very strange as my landlord moved out honks ago to live in Bristol and a new flatmate moved in last September so people must have thought David was commuting! Sorry folks!  My flatmate is pretty happy where she is for now!

I also decided to apply for a PGCE post compulsory course at Wolves uni, more education in the place I struggled at? Yes I am very weird and a glutton for punishment!
I have been for an interview and is currently awaiting to hear if I have a place or not, it is been more than 10 working days now which is really frustrating for me as it would be nice to know if I have a place or not!
This frustration is also because my classification is not out yet, I was told it would be out on the 12th July and now they are saying the 24th which is very grrrrrrr!

I spent most of my early June just relaxing and catching up on tv as my flatmate was away so I could slob out and be a wee bit messy! I visited my parents in Scotland for a week as I  said I would keep an eye on my brother and the family dog when they went to some history thingy in Dublin, for the first time since my parents got Tara (the dog) I had to ask my baby brother how to feed her as I have never done it before!  I honestly am not an animal lover, I find them weird.

I would have stayed longer but I needed to prep for the PCGE interview and Stoney came over to prep me which was much appreciated!
The interview went well, I think and bloody hope so! Please people, keep your fingers crossed for me!

I ordered this really lovely 50s floral swing dress for a wedding in Newcastle, I watched this adored friend get married which was pretty wonderful! The wedding overall was really simply vintage and quite elegant, none of that OTT that seem to be happening these days with doves, and horse drawn carriages etc!

The happy couple :)

Really glad to be asked, it was so beautiful!

I was glad I got a chance to wear the dress as seeing my suitcase was stolen from the train when I was on my way to Newcastle! :0

With a smoking hot friend! 

I cannot understand why would anyone want to steal a suitcase that just had clothes and a few things. I was pretty glad that I was carrying my valuables with me such as iPad, passport etc! I made a report to the lost property office as well the British Transport police (the policeman was pretty cute which did not hurt at all!) then sped to the Metrocentre for a quick last min shopping for stuff I badly needed, it was frustrating as I didn't wanna have to have such hassle. Thanks to the parents and Char for helping out, I was really panicking ESP when I thought my tablets was in the suitcase. I later found them in my handbag yay!

I was given a crime reference number for insurance purposes and this peeved me as who would take out travel insurance for a train trip?! Later on the week, I received an email from my bank letting me know that the charge for my account would go up by an extra £2, and there was a list of benefits which included travel insurance......! It seem I upgraded my bank account last year to get mobile insurance and I kinda of forget about this! I contacted them and it was confirmed that I could claim for UK travel as long it was more than 25 miles from home, a minimum of 2 nights away and the trip was pre booked. I met all of these requests so I have typed up a letter detailing. What happened, where when what why etc as well as a list of things that was stolen, a list of things I had buy to replace at short notice etc.

I was annoyed when they said they couldn't cover perishables such as make up, toothpaste, shampoo and so on as some stuff I had collected/was given and was pretty expensive!   Bahhhhhhhhh! But better than nothing so I hope they will approve my claim and give me money to replace stuff!

My flatmate is away YET again so I am bumming about the flat feeling rather lonely, so I checked the cinema listings and decided to have a cinefest week :)

Monday- Monsters University
Tuesday - Now you can see me
Wednesday- the internship

My next posting will be about a camping festival and twitter!


Fact: I love 50s dresses and owe 4 so far  :)

Hopping rabbits and melty eggs

We now are in March! Blimey time does fly quickly doesn't it!

Now spring is in the air (sort of!) I have been making strides with my dissertation and my first draft is done, now for the boring part- checking the work for spelling and grammar checks!

             Some people have told me that they are confused about why I haven't finished my dissertation, well people who have been following my blog will know I was having difficulties maintaining three work placements as well finding it hard to get excited about writing a dissertation with other essays on top which meant I neglected the dissertation and scraped together a plausible piece of work which failed (clearly!).

            When I re-took this module again in September 2012, I was hoping to have it done by January 2013 in time for the mid-year graduation but illnesses and depression got in the way YET again as well struggling with a lecturer who kept putting down my use of the English language. So I returned to my previous dissertation and am in the process of polishing it.

            When I read it again, I cringed at how badly written it was and how much stuff I missed out! My Deaf Studies lecturer said it was a good piece of work but a lot needed to be done regarding referencing, layout, and restructuring to meet the History department's standards. (BORING)

So I'm hoping to have it all done by end of April, it could be done a lot quicker but I only have one hour of English support a week which mean a very sloooow progress! If anyone fancies proof reading 10 thousand words on the Milan Congress 1880- let me know! It would be a great help!

I went to see the audiology recently as I wanted new pair of hearing aids as I haven’t worn my current ones for a long time due to rubbish earmoulds and the hearing aids never sound right to me! So after failing to book an interpreter for the appointment as I couldn’t get through at all so I turned up for my appointment at half 9 in the morning.

            I first had a hearing test and was told to wait in the waiting room for someone to come along. So I was called up and met an audiologist who looked very sad and said to me that she had bad new for me…. It seem that I have suffered a hearing loss, which made me Deaf, and she was very sorry to break that news to me.

            My reaction- I laughed and told her that I have already known that all my life! I have a deaf family and all that. She assumed I was a new patient with an unexplained hearing loss looking for help. Poor lady, I don’t think she did not know how to deal with me!

            She then found a member of staff that has level 2 BSL that is better than nothing. The signer was nice and did my moulds and while we were waiting for them to set, we talked about possible hearing losses so she compared my last hearing test in 2008 and the recent one that day- it was EXCATLY the same! She was gobsmacked!

            We then discussed how the audiology could provide better access for deaf people in terms of booking interpreters, alternative methods of contact. I was given a direct number for a senior member of the staff oo eh!

            A mere 4 weeks later I received brand new spanking hearing aids and tested them out by watching an interpreted performance of Cats in the Grand theatre. Was pleased they did not whistle! This time I had an interpreter at the audiology, which meant communication was better and I could really ask questions and ask for advice about tinnitus as I have been having a really rough time with it. They have said they will refer me to an ENT doc to chat about it!

           

I seem to have a lot of medical appointments! I also went for a smear test which I believe is very important, two women I knew kept putting their off as they thought it wasn’t important and couldn’t be bothered to find the time for an appointment. Due to me nagging one of them to go and have it done, it was discover that she had pre cancerous cells and it was caught early and needed laser treatment. If it were left for another month or so it would have progressed to cervical cancer.

            So the other woman realised that she have not had a smear test for a long time so she went and the results was pre cancerous cells which was given treatment as well.

            This scared the crap out of me and I always arrange a smear test when it is time for a check up. It is only a few minutes of discomfort and smear tests these days are better than when I was younger (in Scotland women over 21 have smear tests unlike in England where women over 25 are tested), it was a metal thingy, which was horrible!

            So if you have got a letter asking you for a smear test check, go for it! The nurses/doctors has seen it all before so nothing to be embarrassed of!

http://www.mysmeartest.co.uk

 March was indeed a busy month for me; I went to a vintage fair in town, which was small and cute.

University of Wolverhampton did an open day for deaf students and deaf people who was considering going to university. The CSU did this in partnership with DEAF- Deaf Education Advocacy Fellowship. The organiser Esmail was keen to raise awareness to deaf people that they can go to university as well provide access to information such as DSA, funding etc.

         The day was successful despite some snow! There were some workshops, some talks, and a guided tour. I got a very lovely teal hoody to keep: D

         DEAF CIC will be doing more open days with various universities, look here for more information- http://www.deaf-fellowship.org

                                            TALKING TO ONE OF THE LECTURERS

I am looking forward to April as there will be a University ball for Deaf students, interpreting and Deaf Studies students as well members of the SLS (Sign Language Society which is similar to D/BSL based in ULAN) as well Deaf Graduates from University of Wolverhampton. This will take place in the Molineux Stadium (Wolverhampton Wanderers' home ground).

            The S.E.C (Student Enabling Centre formerly know as C.S.U- Communication Support Unit) based in the university is celebrating their 20th anniversary providing BSL interpreters, manual and electronic note-takers to Deaf and Hard of Hearing students.

              It has been a long road to organising this event! There are currently only three Deaf female students (It was hard to find volunteers at all!) liaising with the S.E.C organising this event.  I'm one of the students helping; I am selling tickets (which I am honestly rubbish at! give me PR and money any day, I'm better at these!) I have to say I am obsessive and think a lot about promoting etc.- maybe I should try event planning one day... mm food for thought!

The photo below is from the SLS Ball 2012- I was rather sloshed and I also won the Best-Dressed female :D

I am managing well with my depression, but some times it can take a turn for the worse, which led me to staying in bed for 3 days recently, crying and feeling quite alone. Some friends managed to cheer me up a bit but it wasn't enough to pull me out of the dark hole I was in. I wouldn't blame my friends if they saw my tweets/texts and ran a mile as I am aware how hard it is to support someone with a mental illness when they don't understand WHY it is not simple and easy to get over it quickly or why they have depression in the first place.

I found a quote that really explain how I feel about people when I am in a dark hole-

            “Some friends don't understand this. They don't understand how desperate I am to have someone say, I love you and I support you just the way you are because you're wonderful just the way you are. They don't understand that I can't remember anyone ever saying that to me. I am so demanding and difficult for my friends because I want to crumble and fall apart before them so that they will love me even though I am no fun, lying in bed, crying all the time, not moving. Depression is all about if you loved me you would.”

― Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation

Maybe this will help people to have a insight of how a depressed person thinks as well maybe try to understand, it may not make sense but I can assure you that many depressed people do think that way and it does make sense to them.

            It is like being a hearing person trying to understand Deaf culture but they can never fully understand til they are deaf themselves- this is similar to a person who does not have depression trying to understand how a depressed person feel.

Ach one day! :D 

I was filmed by See Hear on the topic of depression. it was ironic for me as i was officially diagnosed on 19th March 2011, revealed to people that i had depression on 19th march 2012 and was filmed on 19th march 2013! Spooky!

When this will be showed- i don't know when but hopefully one day as it was really hard for me to do it and i would love people to see me and maybe understand.

I am off to visit my parents (and brothers) for Easter, and to get some chocolate eggs!

Fact: Cadbury chocolate is the best! Other chocolate brands are crap