Friday 23 October 2015

Blog 40 Interpretation


Blog 40 Interpretation

October 24, 2015

As one can imagine interpreting thoughts Ideas, meanings expressions or jesters are a very important part of daily communication. A lot of these interpretations more often than not are brought visual jesters rolling of the eyes or by looking away, a shrug of the shoulders. If your visual impaired these jesters can be missed!  As someone who is visual impaired more often than not we can hear the stress or anger, or the sadness in someone voice that gives a distinction of where that person is head in their conversation or even story telling.   Another way interpreting is through writing such as Shakes spear, Yeats, and Shaw to name a few . Their writing are sometimes boring, but can also be inspiring they can make you think, they can move you, and could even inspire you!  

I found myself in a Irish Literature course last semester as part of minor. I right smack dab in the middle of interpreting poems and short stories Yeats, Shaw Lady Gregory.

I found out something very important I am TERRIBLE at it!  I would sit down listen write what I thought they were trying to say only to sit in class and find out what that what I wrote was wrong.  One time we were talking about one part of a poem and I drew a comparison to another poem and the prof said NO it had nothing, to do with anything it was just a filler in the poem.

I asked her what she meant by that she then told me I have to interpret what the poet was saying. I then   told her that was impossible because I just told you what I thought and you told me it was wrong. So it is not what I think he is trying to say it is what you think he is saying that is correct . She then asked me to see after class.

She explained many scholars have written the interpretation of these poems. I said OH so it is their interpretation I should know? She got upset and told me that I do not understand, I told her I understood completely I also told I gave up interpreting what things meant after my first wife!

Needless to say she was not happy with that comment but I passed the course and we never spoke again. As I look back on many times in my life I have never been a person who interpreters very well like in a conversation for example now understanding that some people have a good command of the langue however they must put hidden meaning in what they say. I realized I am not very good at picking that up either I always believed that if you want something ask for it, if you got something to say, say it!

I guess that’s why I had trouble in the Army some Officers or Sargent  would give you and order you would follow it someone else would come along with a higher rank yell at you and when tell them  who told you to do it, that person would Say “ No I did not mean that”.

So I understand that I need to be told directly needs to done or what I can or can’t do there cannot be room for me to interpret on my own.

You are probably wondering where this is all going. It has been known from time to time that I like to do DIY projects. No nothing crazy besides I have no more power saws! lol

You know hammering nail, soar thumbs, sanding tables little painting projects here and there, are they perfect no but there fun.

People ask me how I can see to do it I tell them the trick is do not get distracted if do you will never find were you stop. Do small section at a time and only stop when you are finished.  The big questions I get is how does it look when your done I say “ It looks fine to me”! lol

It may need a touch up here and there but most paint jobs do anyways when it dries. Which leads me to this my wife and I have planning to paint the bather since July 2015 every time we plan to paint something comes up. After while I stopped planning! The last couple of weekends we have made it plan to get the painting done but again something came up. So I asked if she wanted me to paint the bathroom and of course she said no she will get it done.  On Thursday this week our toilet seat broke so asked to one up on the way home from work, nothing fancy, nothing expensive, cheap like the good Scots man I am.

So hears were the interpretation problem comes in. She came in with this fancy wooden seat polished fittings. I told that is not cheap, and her reply “ well it was on sail” there you one misunderstanding it was on sale so therefore cheaper than it originally was.

She then explained how nice it will look when the bathroom was is painted? I told her “ but I need to change the seat tomorrow? She said I know.

So today I painted the bathroom and put the new toilet seat on. It is not a big bathroom but as I understood it that since I had to change the toilet first I should paint bathroom. It came out great a few touch ups here and there but it got done. All the pictures were hung and towel rack put back on and light switch covers put on all before she got home.

Before that my oldest son came by the house and asked me,

Wasn’t mom painting the bathroom? I said no she told me that the new toilet seat would look good once the bathroom was painted, so I painted the bather and put the new toilet seat on. He said “so that is how you understood it”!

When my wife came home after work she went to the bathroom and laughed. She came and told how good it looked and she was happy it was done!

What else could she say I only Interpreted what she told me.  

 

Thursday 3 September 2015

Blog 38 Winning the Fight


September 3 2015

Blog 38 Winning the Fight

I cannot believe that it has been over a year since I wrote my last Blog! I also cannot believe I found it so hard to start writing again! Many things have happened since then as you all probably can imagine.

I literally had to try hard to get back into shape and start working with Lucky to try and get some mobility back along with my strength. I struggled just trying to grasp what had happened and although I was feeling better I still was not strong nor was I seeing the results that I was hoping to get. In fact I can say that I was sliding back I had gain more weight my body was always hurting and no matter how much I worked out  I could not lose weight in fact I could say that I gained! It became a very depressing time for me. The only salutation my doctors could give me is stay on the diet they gave me and increase my insulin and pills, it was nuts!  The viscous circle it creates  is that the more insulin you take the more you eat and the more you eat and more insulin  the weight you gain.  

I became very depressed I struggled through school. Some of the issues I was having were bloating and a lot of stomach cramps. I was having trouble with eye irritation from the computer screen which caused more headaches.  I was not doing well learning the new Jaws program I need to learn,  instructor issues.     I was having mobility issues. I struggled through the holidays and I was not looking forward to the upcoming, winter semester in the New-year. It was the last week in December Arlene and I were sitting watch television and I turned to her and told her I was not winning this FIGHT!

She looked at me and knew exactly what I meant. When we first started seeing each other t in my security school  were these words  on the wall for the student to read.  

I fight the way I Train!

 I Train the Way I need To Fight.!

I will win the Fight because I Trained!

We took some paper and started making a plan of attack. The first thing was I needed to talk with doctor about the medication to talk about  what  was working and what was not including insulin and pills.  The second was to find not a diet but a good eating plan that can be followed on a long term plan, and the best one  I was on is when I was fighting I went to see a Naturel Path who first put me on a cleans and then built a meal plan.  The next part of the plan was once I started feeling  better we address the mobility issues and then the Jaws issues. Until we could put the plan in place in the New- year I just kept clam and watched myself.

AS January 2015 rolled in I had my first doctor’s appointment and for the first time we talked I told her we need to talk seriously and take hard look at all this medication. She ended up removing a couple of pills that were not working she suggested a different insulin that had a better effect for a longer period of time over the day! The draw back however  to get the required amount of insulin it  would take a few weeks because it  may causes nausea, I told her was willing to try anything at this point. The second part was finding a good Natural Path who was not going to try and sell me all kinds of  stuff  I really did have. I did not have to go far in our church is a great couple who are our Chiropractors who also study naturel medicine. In the middle of February   2015 after the church service I had a long talk with them and it turns out his wife was leading a group cleans at the end of that month. I will never forget it Super bowl Sunday not a good day to start a cleanse!  What was this cleanse some are wondering simple stop eating, wheat, dairy, grains, starch.

I found out many things that was causing my bloating and ill health. So did I eat veggies sixty to seventy percent, protein,  sweet potato. We could have broth in between meals to help with our hunger first three weeks was veggies. This eating plan was different for each person because of my insulin issues I had protein in my diet, and some others  may have had something different it was made for that person needs.

So armed with this new plan in the first week of switching my meds and the new eating plan all my blood values started dropping immediately with in the first week I was having normal blood values. My body was trying to adjust so quickly it was a constant juggling of insulin testing adjusting. I also dealt with the new insulin believe me I suffered through February and March sometimes I was so sick I could not get out bed.  In April I went to see my doctor and she had just about fell out of chair! I lost 22lbs my blood values were perfected I dropped all my insulin by half and to date I am down 30lbs my blood pressure is down.

I spent the summer working on Jaws with a good friend who gave me good tools to be able to accomplish a lot of my work with Jaws, but mainly he reduced my stress and my fear of typing by listening and not by looking.  The most important was working with Lucky taking nice big long walks and these are walks that you need to make a good guide dog team.  it Is these long walks encountering different situations that make you great team. I can honestly state that there is nothing wrong with my cardio! I cycle four kilometers on my stationary bike and then take Lucky out for a good four or five kilometer walk and I also started strength training as well.

My last cardiologist appointment was excellent!  His  only comment to me was keep it up! I know one day we all lose the fight but I really prefer to kind of lose  fight more on my terms more later than sooner!

As I said to Arlene the other day

“I am winning the fight because I TRAIN”!