So the second day and first full one arrives early, with me of course posting that first entry. I sat here on the couch, as I am now, and used the writing to help me survive the reading of that Dickens book. I guess it’s possible to listen to a story without having a clue what it was about. Maybe it broadened my horizons a bit?

We actually got going a bit earlier than we thought, leaving the room just after 10, and thus missing the hotel’s complimentary breakfast by just a few minutes. But it was ok, because sunning while eating was better anyway.

And that’s just what we did, at a nice downtown Starbucks as people hurried by. I think the location we chose was at 475 East Bay Street, but am not certain as of course there are locations across from locations. In any event, I got my usual sausage egg and cheese biscuit on an English muffin. She had a lemon pound cake.

At about 11:20, we head for the Maritime Center at 10 Wharfside Street, from which the Carolina Belle would depart. This 2-decker takes quite a few people on a historic tour of Charleston Harbor, leaving at 11:30 and 1:30 each day, and lasting an hour and a half.

Before hopping aboard though, we first stroll along then sit on a bench on the Wando River, one in a series of waterways that flow into each other to create an excellent harbor in this city. The Ashley and Cooper rivers are primary among these. There is of course the slightly damp smell that pervades all rivers. It was mostly quiet, other than the occasional gentle lapping that occurred when the wind picks up.

We trek to the boarding area shortly after 1, where a picture is taken of each group of people that can then be purchased for $20. We each held onto a giant foam ring that said Charleston Harbor Tours as the cameras snapped. Then we scrambled on and took our seats up top. I was worried about being a bit wobbly, but was ok in the end. The sun was spotty but great when it appeared, beating forecast rain!

As we begin to motor away from the docks, the captain narrates an amazing amount of history that I could not of course entirely remember. As he does, we make our way past the giant Carnival Fantasy Cruise Ship, also anchored at harbor and preparing to sail in mere hours. Ah, I wanted to go!

The only real thing i do recall is that the first shot of the Civil War wasn’t fired at Fort Sumter, as many think. The Wikipedia article makes no mention of this, but I guess that isn’t particularly surprising.

They of course have to mention the contributions of slaves both to building that area up and to the war effort itself, and in so doing their reluctance comes across. I think that’s always gonna be a sore point in the South.

We also pass Sullivan Island, the Morris Island Lighthouse, and a couple of young kids waving to us from a beach. Overall I would recommend this tour, as the ride feels good and you can learn a little. I suppose it’s easier for folks who can see to pick up more, but there’s stuff in it for blind folks as well.

Next, we hopped in the car to head downtown. We had to pull it into a parking deck and go up to the fourth level, as parking is quite limited in that area. If you can, I would recommend getting alternative transportation down there. As I mentioned, all we really have is that spotty hotel shuttle.

We got out and did some good walking, with the most interesting place being the City Market. This open market is a collection of covered stalls that definitely take you back to the 1800’s. The oddly evocative smell of horse manure (in the sense that it stirs long-dormant childhood memories of being astride those beasts) hangs in the air. I find it easy to imagine people, probably including slaves, coming there to purchase goods. The Sue Monk Kidd book I read earlier this year, The Invention of Wings, takes place here, and would give you a good sense of what those times were like. She gets a sort of headband, and we try a piece of dried okra chips. It is smaller due to the loss of moisture, but still tastes the same. I guess it was ok, but would I eat a whole bag? Probably not.

One thing I WOULD eat in abundance is the homemade ice cream we got next, from a place called Kilwin’s Chocolates. They have a copper kettle that is heated to near 700 degrees in order to melt the sugar. I opt for a fudge brownie that is chopped up in the ice cream, and she gets the peach. This place is a cash-and-carry, with no tables, so we head outside to eat our treats. I have to quickly lop out the top of my cup before the stuff oozes all over my hand, but hey, that means it’s good!

And that was just about it. Finding dinner was tricky, because we’d left the area, chose to go to Five Guys Burgers and Fries, then discovered going there would require re-entering the deck. No way. So, we settled for fast food from Wendy’s over in Mount Pleasant, just across the long Arthur Ravenel Bridge. Perhaps we should have gone with one of those ultra-high priced establishments we passed along the way. Most probably came to at least 34 dollars per person. One placed 4 wine glasses on each table. Maybe I’ll go to something like that one day, but not likely too often. If I’m parting with that kind of dough, I wanna be fed more!

And we arrive at the last full day of our trip. I’ll be back with its happenings later, but we’re hoping for a picnic at Folley Beach, a place I visited in 2002. We shall see, though.

Hello, from the nice SpringHill Suites in Charleston, South Carolina. Located close to the banks of the Ashley River, this hotel has unusually large, wel-equipped rooms with kitchenettes, comfortable beds, and even full living room furniture; including a couch on which I currently lie.

Arriving here yesterday at 5 was no easy task. We depart my apartment at a bit before 12. While I await her arrival, I am amused by the arguments of angry neighbors.

“Hey, open this f―in’ door! My name is on the (dang) lease too, don’t forget that!”

I know not about what she was so mad, but just shook my head.

A quick stop at McDonalds, where I wolf down the sausage, egg and cheese biscuit as if it might well be my last meal. We sail unencumbered through Cary, Raleigh, and onto the way leading to I-95. Where all just about stops.

Progress is slowly made, but even so, she says the level of driving required to keep both from plowing into and being plowed into is nearly too much. I am sadly of little use here, other than attempting to conduct pleasant conversation while watching my Carolina Panthers against the Atlanta Falcons through play-by-play via the Sports Alerts iPhone app. We lost our first game, y’all! How disappointing, but I knew it was likely. Hard to beat a team, and especially an arch rival, twice in three games.

Anyhow, we finally broke out of the traffic snarl once merging onto I-26 about 30 minutes outside of Charleston. Then it was hugging the speed limit before exiting and following the somewhat loopy GPS directions until we approached the hotel at 98 Ripley Pointe Drive.

That was the longest car ride I’ve taken in many years, so to stretch was grand. We hauled out our luggage and made our way to the second floor check-in area. As it turns out, our room would also be on this level. While on the elevators, some other travelers asked where we’d come from. I think maybe they were from Charlotte.

The hotel offers a shuttle to downtown starting at 5 PM. We’d contemplated using that, but it didn’t take long to decide that having the car would be better. This is primarily because the rides are provided only once an hour. So, we worked through the vast selection of restaurants on Google Maps to choose a quaint place called Crust Wood fired Pizza, located at 1956 Maybank Highway, #B. They have a greater selection than pizzas though, so we figured it would be a good option.

I really liked the atmosphere here. Even though all of the tables were taken, the volume of conversation was such that one didn’t have to pitch one’s voice way up in order to be heard. The staff were also accommodating, allowing us to move from a less back-friendly bar to a booth once it became available.

My only issue with this place is that they need to update their online menu. I’d settled on a meatball sandwich, supposedly made with balls in house, but they’re no longer there! So, i go for a giant Italian sandwich that comes cut in half, along with some deliciously crispy fries that more resembled hot potato chips. She opts for a shrimp gnocchi, (pronounced yokey). I think it is composed of potato-based noodles, but have never tried it.

And not much else. I finally purchase the tickets for the boat ride around Charleston Harbor we will take in a few hours. I’d discovered this through the Charleston SC iPhone app. It never ceases to amaze me the degree to which this technology allows me to assist in the planning of a trip like never before. I’ll probably post about how today unfolds sometime tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I’m suffering through a Charles Dickens book called The Chimes, available free on Audible, so I can quickly notch book 49 and hang onto a shred of hope that I’ll finish this challenge before 2015 finishes me! More later.

This is mostly a test post to see if, could it be, I can now write on my iPhone with the Braille display? For so many reasons, this would make it a lot easier for me to write more regularly.

I’d been hoping for this before. The problem was that the Brailliant BI 40 from Humanware, even for all its greatness, had a tendency to lock up way too frequently. It seems that may have been fixed, yay!

Continuing my randomness now just to see how long I indeed can, I am beyond ecstatic that the holidays have begun. As is usual when they come, I need this break in the worst way. I don’t have a whole lot planned, other than chillin’ in the cut (whatever that means) till the 27th, when I’m to hit the road with my girlfriend for what will hopefully be a fun trip to Charleston, South Carolina. The biggest threat to it is the endless rain that, on the other hand, is keeping the temperatures abnormally elevated.

Speaking of elevation, what about my Carolina Panthers! 14-0! I really don’t know how many more times we can play with fire, as we did this past Sunday in letting the New York giants come back from 28 down to tie it, and not get burned, but well it’s just been that kind of year. I think that game will show us what we must avoid come playoff time though, so it was good that happened. You can’t let up!

So, there have been a couple of glitches in this experiment, but thankfully they do not involve locking up! So I may in fact be able to make this work, and blog for Dunkin’, aboard a GO Triangle bus, and even from the beach. We shall see. In any event, I wish you a merry Christmas, and a safe and happy entry into 2016. I will do some kind of end-of-year post next, though I’m not yet sure what form it’ll take. Do you also have any fun trips planned?

Holidays tell us to remember that we love our significant others, family, country, and higher power of choice. But very few exist (well ok putting aside the murky historical underpinnings of it, which I know that one can hardly put aside but stay with me!) to remind us to just, be, thankful.

As the day arrived, sunny and quite warm for late November, I reflected that I had much to be thankful for. I’ve never had a year quite like this, where I have such a powerful, stable relationship with another human being. Where I find the courage to begin the process of stepping out and getting to where I really want to be in life. Where I am inspired to take on what may seem a frivolous but possibly life-changing books challenge, (I’m up to 47 by the way). Where, even my sports team, the Carolina Panthers (NFL) are having a truly historic year at 12-0 already, smashing records and expectations along the way. It’s just been amazing.

I found myself in the unusual position of not going to my own family’s place for a gathering, as everyone decided at the last minute to just sort of do their own thing. This did make me a bit sad, as Thanksgiving is maybe the only day where we really get together anymore, but then it also presented me with a great opportunity to start a new tradition with the woman, whatever that ends up looking like in the end.

This year, we went to Fayetteville and ate with her folks instead. I was a bit nervous about this, mainly because of my hearing issues. But, I found it surprisingly easy to just slip right into conversation and never really felt left out of anything. It probably helped that only immediate family was there, but I was prepared to cope with a larger gathering if it had been so.

Mostly all I have to do anyway is get my eat on! Sometimes I choose not to have turkey, as I so did this year. Instead, I sucked down some delicious ham, mac and cheese, dressing (as we call it in the South, an NPR story said most everyone else calls it stuffing but so what), green beans, a roll, and some cranberry sauce. Outside of her father, I’m the only one who eats that last. I grew up enjoying it at our feasts, though. One thing I’ve learned is that it is very important that I not overeat, as doing so can make me feel faint and awful for the rest of the day. So I give myself just enough.

Then they fired up the TV in the little downstairs room where the tables were so we could catch the Panthers game. They of course feasted on the Cowboys, ultimately winning 33-14. Her folks, again other than her dad, aren’t really into sports either, but they did have fun trying to ascertain what was going on in that game. We hit the road for my hometown of Charlotte midway through the second quarter, so that I could get in some valued time with my cousin.

Not much happened during our stint in the Queen City, but it was definitely welcome relaxation. My cousin and I did watch the nightcap between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, then stayed up chatting till nearly 1 AM. We also got more time chillin’ while his wife and my girlfriend went for a shopping run that afternoon. We closed the day with carry-out meals from a Greek-style restaurant called Shomars, where I got, as always, their Callabash shrimp. I only regret that I wasn’t able to finish all of mine then nor on Saturday, before we deemed it had been exposed to the open air too long for safe consumption.

So in the end, I was pretty well satisfied with the balanced weekend I had. I got to get more comfortable with her folks and to enjoy some time with mine. It doesn’t get much better than that, right?

p>How was your Thanksgiving, if you still remember. Do you eat anything that you think most people don’t? Finally, what has been the thing about which you have been most thankful this year.

Ok it’s official, I have been accepted to the James L Knight School of Communication Master of Arts program at Queens University of Charlotte. Classes begin on January 11, 2016. So after a three-year hiatus, I am back to give this grad school thing another shot!

How do I feel? Well at the moment, kind of overwhelmed but really excited.

Overwhelmed for the predictable reasons: the bureaucratic slog must now kick into high gear. I have to complete a FAFSA, and do a couple of other things that are in the welcome email I got from my program manager. I expected this, of course, but am trying to think of how I might get some assistance without driving the same two or three people a bit nutty. Those folks have been tremendously helpful to me throughout this process, though. I am figuring it out on my own to the extent that I can, but some things are just not as readily accessible or require actions; such as printing out, signing and rescanning forms; that are beyond my purview.

On the other hand, I am thrilled because this time I have a much more well thought out plan for how I will approach this attempt, including my overall goals and the research that is needed to achieve them. In a nutshell, I am aiming to take disability into the mass, probably noncommercial media (NPR) perhaps through some sort of blog/social media content. I have my steps for getting there more laid out in my personal statement, and intend to use that document throughout as a guide for helping me along in deciding on project topics and how to approach papers/presentations.

The goal is a big one, and it makes me nervous since it comes so close to what I’ve dreamed of doing all of my life. Well ok, I’ve actually seriously contemplated work with NPR since 2001, when one of my professors had us look up and listen to an excellent series on Black Codes. I’ve been an addict ever since, and am now able to name many of the reporters, guess which stories will be covered by whom, and the like to an amusing degree. As the concept of blogging has really taken off and this network in particular has embraced it in its many different forms, I am ever more able to see a way in.

I think it’s hardest to really go after what you want, because the perceived disappointment of not getting there is highest then. But we only live once, and there comes a time when one must take that step onto the invisible staircase and hope for the best, or risk remaining on a comfortable, if not nearly as desired, level. Taking this chance just involves realizing that it might not work out exactly as intended, and to have come up with alternatives that at least approximate the hoped for outcomes. I do have these, and will develop them as I matriculate through the program. I hope that maybe I and my crazy belief that I can have better will serve as inspiration to someone else to try to move beyond that place where they are stuck as well, and that whatever happens, I am able to resume my attempts to improve things for persons with disabilities, just in my more natural forum of the written word rather than as a counselor. Here’s to the beginning of my next journey. Stay tuned to see where I end up! And as always, thank you for your support.

Ok, I kind of failed at completing the Blindness Awareness articles by the end of October. But, there were a couple of pretty good reasons for this.

First, I got leveled by another nasty cold, my third of 2015 and the second to directly impact a weekend to which I had been very much looking forward. That’s right, even as drippy, coughy, and otherwise unpleasantly sick as I was, I still attended the North Carolina State Fair with my girlfriend, cousin, his wife, and agaggle of others, known to me and unknown.

I was most amazed by the size of the crowds. It felt like walking through New York City at times, because we almost had to bull our way through people in order to get anywhere. I think the day we attended, the last Saturday, saw attendance of upwards of 140,000 folks. This was probably because the weather was fantastic, amazing really given that the month of October began and ended with significant stretches of rainfall. Undoubtedly, the fair’s organizers got lucky with timing.

I hadn’t realized until this year, probably because I live under a rock or something, that not all state fairs take place at the same time. According to that great arbiter of truth, Wikipedia, ours has run almost continually from 1853, with stoppages only during the Civil War, mid 20’s, and World War 2, and always takes place during mid October. Interesting.

Lacking taste as I was, I found it difficult to really indulge in the strange food that most makes up a fair going experience. I did struggle through a bite of a Krispy Kreme Burger though, and I probably won’t be lining up to order that thing again. I might like it if the donut were plain or something, but the sweetness therein was so overpowering that I could barely taste the meat. It just… didn’t work.

So that and being consumed by watching my Carolina Panthers, 6-0! win a late game over the Philadelphia Eagles took me out of my weekend writing rhythm. Am I forgiven?

What I was mostly going to talk about is how blind individuals are able to take in a world that is largely built for sighted people. This is especially relevant in environments such as museums, as I note in this 2013 post . I wonder if that place in Philadelphia still exists, and would perhaps like to go and visit it one day.

The ability to take in art exhibits is considered one of the most important ways to enrich and give depth to our human existence, as it is a form of media that has really been in use ever since people learned to sketch on cave walls. I’m glad that more are realizing the usefulness of making sure this form can be accessed in a way that is meaningful to those who cannot see it as well, as I also got to observe in 2008, when I took a fun trip to Denver to help a grad student do a research project about said access. For me, this involved having my hand banged against the side of a fish tank by feeding sting rays, listening to a described video in the iMax theater, and feeling giant sculptures of such things as horses in gallop. It was cool.

With regards to entertainment, the most notable challenge comes when trying to perceive visual content such as movies and television shows. Fortunately, these barriers are also being addressed, if slowly and inconsistently, with the wider introduction of audio description. Read more detail about what that is and why we want it in this old entry . I am happy to say that Netflix has begun rolling out more and more titles with AD available, and so we hold out hope that more mainstream companies will follow suit in the future.

What we lack in the visual media, we are thought by most to have an overabundance of when it comes to musical ability. Heck, probably for a long time our best hope at employment was to entertain others either by singing or playing the piano. I enjoy singing, certainly, but because of my hearing deficits I will never do so professionally. Still few things can kill time and lift my mood as well as belting out some fun tunes.

And I guess that wraps up what was no doubt a nebulous attempt by me to give a well-rounded picture of what it is like to be a blind person in today’s society. Much has been gained, but there is and probably will always be much to do to level that playing field and give us a true chance to succeed to the fullest of our abilities.

I’ll start this post off with a couple of links. First, check out an interview that the author of Adventures In Low Vision conducted with me, a Quick Q&A, as she calls it. It was fun.

Second, if you haven’t, read last year’s post for National White Cane Safety Day, which was October 15th.
A Big Piece of Freedom
I suppose most of that content is still relevant.

And now on to today’s main topic: the second E, Employment. I’m probably not the only one who used to dream that I would have some kind of meaningful job that paid enough for me to get by and met all of my other needs as well. What that would look like, I wasn’t certain. Counselor? Teacher? (I did dabble in education for a really short time when starting my undergraduate career, but only had to think to come to my senses with regards to the feasibility of that for me.) Perhaps some kind of writing?

As so many seem to, I completed my Bachelor’s in Psychology with a minor in Communication studies, figuring that I could somehow go into that particular field. And then, life happened.

My main concern once I gained the age of adulthood, which in my case wasn’t really till I turned 23 or so, was wanting to be independent. To that end, I scoured the Internet, worked with Job Placement Specialists employed by the North Carolina Division of Services for the Blind, and took other actions to try and find something that would fit my many and varied interests. Sadly though, I encountered discrimination and an unwillingness by most to accept the idea that though my eyeballs may not function, I could still bring a lot to any organization.

Finally, as so many of us are driven to do, I took a position with one of the National Industries for the Blind (NIB) -affiliated agencies. These and the NISH, once known as the National Industries for the Severely Handicapped but no longer so known as that terminology is outdated, were some of the first organizations to allow persons with disabilities to do something other than perhaps just sitting at home all day.

Aside from a first attempt at graduate school that lasted from August of 2009 till December of 2011 (at UNC, MS in Rehabilitation Counseling and Psychology), I have been within the realm of the NIB for all of my working career. I was from 2003 till 09 at Lions Services of Charlotte, and since January of 2013 I have been at Durham’s LC Industries.

While I long to do something more fulfilling someday, I also acknowledge that I am fortunate to be working at all. According to a page via AFB Career Connect, which has what they admit is older information by now but which I’d be surprised if it has changed much, only about 30% of legally blind individuals of working age are employed. The percentage jumps to 45 if you have enough vision to be classified as not legally blind but are still of low vision. I do not know for certain, but would venture to say that a majority of us work in sheltered, noncompetitive positions such as what I do now. The really good stuff is so rare for us that I probably know many of the people who are out working within the regular workforce.

With that said though, I think we are in a more hopeful time than ever. The technology exists that can connect us in such a way that most people on the other side of the screen don’t notice a difference. With the proper training, we can reach a level that in some cases exceeds that of our sighted peers. For instance, some blind folks are able to read documents really quickly by setting their screen-reader of choice to 100%, and to actually understand the material as it flies by. I’ll admit that I’m not one of that club, but I can certainly take it in quickly either via synthetic speech or in Braille with my electronic display.

To that last part, the ability to read Braille, it does seem to be a major component for those who do get better positions. It is not the only indicator, and also is not strictly required for one to experience success, as some have demonstrated. But just as with a sighted person, being able to actually read the material oneself rather than simply perceiving it in audio helps with spelling and comprehension. It also would be of use if in, say, a call center. Should I become a writer, as I hope to someday, I plan to acquire an even better Braille display than I currently possess.

The era of the sheltered workshop has been since approximately 1935, about 80 years. For various reasons, these agencies are likely to be phased out over the coming years. It is my ardent hope then that all who are able and wish to seek competitive, rewarding work will find a more welcoming environment over the next 80 years. This is helped by constantly working to change perceptions of what we can do in the eyes of the public, which I would say is my main mission.

Hello, and welcome to Blindness Awareness Month! What exactly this means I confess to not entirely knowing. But I suppose the main idea is to continue to make society aware of the fact that we’re here, we function, and despite little or no use of our eyes, we are still quite capable of accomplishing great things. So in my clunky way, I will try to highlight how I and some of my peers have done this over the years. Of course, some things will be very much related to other posts I’ve already created, but well that’s part of the point right?

First, I’ve had an idea that came to me because someone asked that I feature their page on my blog. I’ve created a Disability-related Resources and Favorite Blogs page that I will modify as time goes on. Please take a look and tell me what you think.

So my idea for this month is to write about the Four E’s: education, employment, enrichment, and entertainment. I hope something I say is useful.

In my previous post about this subject entitled ADA 25: Blind Learning , I wrote a lot about blind people’s changing ability to receive an equal education within the public school system, as opposed to specific schools for the blind. I think in this piece, I will take a more in-depth look at how my own education, both book-related and physical, unfolded against the backdrop of the 1980’s and 1990’s with its burgeoning technology.

It’s funny: in my earliest days, I hadn’t even known there was a significant difference between me and the majority of my classmates. This despite the fact that I would usually leave the classroom everyday for some one-on-one instruction with what we called a Resource teacher, but who is now more often called a Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI). (It surprises me that this terminology is still used actually, as many don’t prefer to be called visually impaired even if they are low-vision, but there you have it.)

In this classroom, as probably mentioned in my prior post about the subject, there were all of our special equipment for learning and using Braille, as well as printing out our work.

RELATED: Wanna take a gander at learning some Braille? Check out this post.

The first, we’ll just go with TVI for the sake of simplicity here, was one of those mean, old-time folks who would whack hands with paddle if need be. This usually came about if I continued to insist that “I can’t!” as I so often did in those days.

It’s gonna be a crazy world for you out there,” she said. “So it is very important that you believe yourself able to do whatever you set your mind to! So I’m gonna do whatever I have to in order to get that through your thick head.”

I still love that woman for her dedication, and for what she managed to teach me. I saw her much later in life, once I’d gotten into university, and she was so proud of and happy for me..

A bit of a sidenote/amusing anecdote: once she recorded herself asking me how many legs a cat has. I was in the third grade, and we had a cat as a family pet, so why I responded with “16” will always be beyond me. Mutant cats?

In about the fourth grade, she gave way to another TVI who oversaw my progress pretty much for the remaining time I spent in the Charlotte Mecklenburg (NC) school system. She had a softer, but no less effective way of guiding me along my learning journey. Rather than whack my hand for expressions of doubt, she rewarded positive occurrences, sometimes with crackers or lunches, or my favorite cakes from the cafeteria. Hey, I’m easy to please! It was at about this time, in conjunction with my fantastic fourth and fifth-grade teachers, that I really began to take off.

That’s the mental aspect of my education. Important, of course, but not the only thing. There was also the mastery of body, through exercise and activity. As with everyone else, I achieved this through Physical Education (P.E) classes.

I have distinct memories of these classes, especially in elementary school. We were gifted an incredible individual named Mr. Beattie who insisted that we participate in classes to the fullest extent possible. I remember him attempting to teach me how to properly shoot a basketball.

“Ok, take the ball and position your hands like this.” He then placed my fingers as indicated. “Now, shoot it up and forward!”

I shot it up, all right. Then boing! Right off of my dome. “ouch!”

“No, I said forward!” he said, a touch of laughter in his voice.

Up, up, and down to meet dome again. *sigh* this seems to be a hopeless cause.

“Ok,” he said, taking the ball from my hand and sliding me back a bit. “I want you to try shooting it into the trash can.”

Oh yeah, I understood that concept easily enough. Still, when I attempted to aim at the basket, boing! On accident, I did manage to flick my wrists just so a couple of times and drop it through the hoop, but I didn’t fully grasp the idea until my uncle got my cousin and me a diminutive goal with small ball that we could feel.

“Ah, now I got it!” (My cousin and I wiled away many hours, and nearly decapitated each other, playing games on that goal. So much fun).

When it came to football and baseball, Mr. Beattie also helped us to be involved in these sports. In football, I would snap it to the quarterback, pushing it backward between my legs. I didn’t really understand the purpose of this activity, but did it faithfully anyway.

In baseball, I would hit the ball. I can’t remember exactly, but I guess it was mounted to a tee. Then I’d run the bases with a sighted guide. Well? It’s better than just sitting on the sidelines entirely, I’d say.

So thanks to the strong-minded adults in my life, I was and have always been both physically and mentally active. As with so many things, it worries me a bit that not only blind kids, but kids in general are experiencing less of the former. And I only hope that there are still some caring instructors out there who will take their place in a child’s memories as mine have, by giving freely of their time and energy to move them forward.

And so we have arrived at that time of year, when it can rain relentlessly over a significant amount of time. I saw a stat on Twitter that suggested that if we get rain tomorrow, which is in the forecast, it will set an all-time record for consecutive days of precipitation here in the Triangle. Oh oh. This means that, aside from a walk to pay rent yesterday and a brief period out today, I’ve been confined to these four walls.

And what have I been up to? Well, pondering how to begin seriously laying the course for my next moves in life. It is looking increasingly like I will make a real attempt to enter graduate school, this time in Communications as I probably should have last time. I did a search for Master’s programs, and found one administered entirely online by Queens University of Charlotte, in my hometown. Of course given that it is in fact online, it would hardly matter if the program were on the other side of the country.

I’ve begun having conversations with someone who states her position as Program Manager there, and am starting the process of gathering the documentation I need. She has given me a helpful outline that I will attempt to stick to that should help me finish applying well in advance of the next sessions which get underway in January.

This program puts a lot of emphasis on blogging/social media, networking, understanding audience, and using this knowledge to assist a given organization. This is exactly what I’m looking for.

I do wonder about how the dynamics work when these types of classes are all online. But well the truth these days is that even so-called “on-campus” classes are at least partially done via the Internet. It’s just the new and preeminent paradigm. And of course technology has advanced so much over the last few years that I doubt there’s a whole lot of difference anyway.

If I start now, I suppose I’d finish around the end of 2017. While so doing, I hope to find internship opportunities and make other sorts of connections that will lead me to possible career options once I have concluded.

I know that the biggest challenge will be paying for it. I’m certain that the Division of Services for the Blind will not cover it this time, so I’ll likely have to take out student loans and hope for the best. Still, it’s just time to jumpstart my life and make some stuff happen. I plan to augment the skills I have already gained by taking HTML and WordPress courses with the Cisco Academy for the Vision Impaired a couple of years ago.

And that’s a bit of what I’ve had going on of late. Other than that, I just sprawled on my couch or sat near the computer, reading two different books, as has been the case throughout my 50-book, 50-author challenge: A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson; and Shadows over Paradise, by Isabel Wolff. I like them both for their deep descriptions of nature, but am especially liking the second with its talk of life on tropical Java as experienced by Dutch colonialists just prior to World War 2. An Englishwoman is charged with encapsulating the much older Dutch woman’s story in order to sort of ghost-write her memoir, and as far as I can tell, the story will become a lot bleaker as the Japanese take over and make everyone subservient. It will be an interesting read though, because I’ll get to see a lot of the technique involved in the craft of “Ghosting,” which I may well try to do someday.

So there you have it, a sort of stream-of-consciousness post in order to maintain my burgeoning streak of at least one per week. I suspect that things are really about to get crazy, so stay tuned for the fun.

I still recall the first day I pulled that piece of metal from its wrapping in a box that had been delivered to me by a friend. I’d chosen to have it shipped to her house, because there was some possibility it would arrive after I had relocated to PineBluff, North Carolina. I held it up, clicked the home button 3 times, and heard “VoiceOver On. My life changed.

That day was September 21, 2012, and this week makes three years since it happened. In the previous two years’ retrospectives, I ranked my 12 favorite iPhone apps. This year though, I have decided that I wouldn’t do that again, primarily because now my uses are so many and varied that I’m not even sure I could come up with just twelve. I thought therefore that I would talk a bit about what this technology seems to be doing to us.

I absolutely love my iPhone, and in many ways you’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands in order to stop me from using it. I can’t think of a single device that has so been able to encapsulate everything I want with it, from entertainment to news, sports and time-passing games. And of course there’s interacting with people from all over the world via text message, Facebook, and Twitter.

However, we must be quite careful not to lose sight of maintaining real human connection. A couple of podcasts, including the Ted Radio Hour, have had recent discussions that suggest that we are headed for a point where we experience two realities: one in the “real world” and another inside of our little screens. One of the Ted speakers even stated that this second reality would be something like our chance to explore an Outer Space that we have invented.

Interesting metaphor, and one that Ernest Cline takes to extreme in his book Ready Player One. There, he takes us to a dystopian world in 2045, where all of our current energy resources are nearly gone, causing even basic travel to be virtually impossible. So people spend most of their time online in what is termed The Oasis, a “reality” created by an eccentric, 1980’s-obsessed billionaire.

To fully immerse oneself in this universe, one wears haptic clothing and sits in a chair that allows for the experience of actual movement. Players can blast off in Space ships and visit other planets, which are really just coded by different individuals. They can also pick up items, play games and other media, and talk with each other in real time.

The game’s creator has it set up so that, on his death, there will be a contest for a vast sum of money for the person who can navigate through the entire game and locate his Easter egg. This sets regular people against large business interests, culminating in an exciting battle near the end.

Ultimately, the main characters discover that reality, even with all of its issues, is more desirable than existing in a fashion that allows for little to no encounters of real people, places, and things. As I hear stories about teen-agers constantly texting even as they ride to school with their parents, and thus in many respects not even having the basic skills to successfully navigate a job interview, my feelings of unease increase.

I know I’m not immune to these issues either. Heck, I don’t know if I could survive my workday without pulling out that piece of electronic crack at any break and lunch period I can. But I had an experience that showed me why I must force myself to scale back, at least a bit when I’d accidentally forgotten my external charger at home, and all of the juice ran out by 11:30. I met a kind individual in my section who had suddenly lost her sight, and thus had many questions for me (perhaps ironically) on how to use the iPhone. I guess my reputation preceeds me, regarding my supposed proficiency with this technology. She has told some in the front office, as I guess they have a training area on-site, that they should consider hiring me. We also now have regular conversations, at least to the extent that I can hear over the roar of machinery and banging that never really cease there.

So I guess my takeaway here is to remember that there are folks within easy vicinity of you, so remember to pull those eyes away from screen, or in my case, hands from display or ears from big headset, long enough to take it all in. After all, some of our best stuff comes when we allow the brain to sit and work its magic, unimpeded by stimulation. Wait, I’ll post more as soon as I respond to that notification I just heard.