We had pizza for tea tonight. I had 7 pieces. Yes, 7. All together now… OINK! It was really nice though, and a lot of the pieces I had were pretty small. Does that make it better?
I’m really looking forward to Sunday. M and I are going to Clare for their annual Gourmet Weekend. It’s a food and wine thing (for those who might not know, the Clare Valley is a major South Australian wine-making district) that’s being held on the Saturday and Sunday, but we’re going up on Sunday (since Sunday is the day when all the wineries have lots of yummy food on offer), staying the night and coming back on Monday. The place we’re staying at is a self-contained room, with an open fire and provisions for a cooked breakfast. It will be nice to sit in front of the open fire, sipping wine and eating chocolates (I bought some chocolates on Monday for us to take there).
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In other news, I’m starting an Auslan bridging course next week. The aim of the course is to give students more experience with signing to people from a whole range of backgrounds, and learn to adapt their signing according to who they’re talking to, such as different levels of education, or different age groups - much like we automatically do when we’re speaking to different people.
It’s held on Thursdays until the end of the year (with breaks during normal school holidays), which means that I’ll be studying three nights a week now. I’m looking forward to the course - I really hope that I make some improvements this year. I can’t remember whether I mentioned this before (although I’m pretty sure I did), but I decided to make some videos of myself practising my Auslan, in the hope that I’ll be able to watch at the end of the year and see how much I’ve improved. So another reason for doing the bridging course is so I can get some more practice. I need to do them more often though because I don’t think I’m getting enough practice. I’ve only made 8 so far.
In order to do the bridging course, I had to go to an interview. There were 4 people there altogether (not including me) - two hearing people who work at DeafSA, a Deaf man (who I knew already) from DeafSA, and an interpreter for him. The first part of the interview was spoken, and they just wanted to know a bit about my educational background and how much Auslan I’d done. The second part was signed, and they told me to sign a story, just so they could see my signing style and expression. The third part was readback, where I watched two videos, each with a Deaf person talking about growing up, ie their education, job etc. They stopped the video every so often and I had to tell them what was being said.
As soon as I was told about the video part I started stressing. I was so worried I wouldn’t have a clue what they were signing, but it wasn’t too bad. I did miss a couple of things, but they seemed happy enough with me. So I got in, and enrolled last Monday. I’ll know quite a few people in the class, so that will be good.
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My cat is still occasionally peeing on the floor. M got a sample today and took it to the vet after work. They rang a little while ago with the results, and said that there was a lot of blood in his urine 
She’s going to do some more tests on the blood tomorrow to see whether it is an infection or whether there are crystals in the urine. My poor baby.
May 4th, 2006 at 9:53 pm | [ Quote ]
Congrats on your course, that’s quite interesting. I remember many years ago signing to a deaf girl, and although I didn’t really ‘know’ sign language, we always seemed to understand each other. I’m still doing sign now in The Netherlands, it’s easy to use your hands and expressions to talk to someone that doesn’t speak the same language
About your cat: My old cat had a lot of blood in her urine too, in fact she used to pee in the bath! and sometimes it was pure blood. We took her for tests and she was diagnosed with cystitus, so was put on tablets. Apparently stress is one of the main factors.
May 4th, 2006 at 11:33 pm | [ Quote ]
Thanks, Mandy!
I didn’t see the sample that M got this morning, and when I showed my surprise when the vet said that there was a lot of blood in it, she said it was reddish-brown, and made me feel as though I was negligent :’( She said, “What does your cat DO?” I didn’t understand what she meant, thinking she was asking whether he still uses the floor. She asked whether anything had changed, saying that “it’s been a while since I last saw you…” Last time I saw her she said it was probably behavioural since she couldn’t immediately find anything, and now I feel awful that my baby has been in pain when I thought it was just because he didn’t want to use the same tray as our other cat. I’d never want my baby to be in pain :’( The vet has the kind of soft-spoken voice that makes you feel as though you’ve done something wrong.
Sorry, major rambling there!
May 5th, 2006 at 7:47 am | [ Quote ]
I’ve noticed that people who are elementary school teachers usually talk to EVERYONE like they are a child, but I do think that the course sounds interesting and practical.
Even if the food isn’t great in Clare, you’ll have chocolates- what more do you need? ^_^b (thumbs up emoticon, btw)
And last but certainly not least, I hope your cat is alright.
May 5th, 2006 at 6:55 pm | [ Quote ]
Jenny - I don’t like your vet already. So what was the diagnosis, did she actually come up with something concrete or do you have to wait for test results? Maybe you could mention cystitis to her.. but then she’ll probably accuse you of trying to do her job! lol
Good luck with your kitty, and I hope it’s nothing too serious.
Mandy :=)
May 6th, 2006 at 11:15 am | [ Quote ]
Oh no, the poor kitty! I hope it’s not serious. I’m taking Yuki in on Monday for a teeth-cleaning. Ah, being a pet owner can be a lot of work! BTW, I don’t think 7 small pieces of pizza are too much! *oink*
May 6th, 2006 at 12:43 pm | [ Quote ]
Fash: Yes, and I’ve found some GP’s do it as well. Just because they have an MD they think it makes them better than everyone else. Whatever. Oh yes, there will be chocolates (as long as I remember to take them!) :d
Mandy: Thanks
She sent away the sample to have more tests done and found crystals present. She did mention cystitis, but thinks that might not be the problem since he doesn’t seem to be having difficulty going to the toilet.
Steph: Me too - he’s on a special diet for the next few weeks to see if it makes a difference. Yep, pet ownership can be fun!
May 8th, 2006 at 1:17 am | [ Quote ]
Congrats on the getting into the class! Sounds like quite an interview process.
Hope you & M have a great time at the winery! Yall will have a great time! The owner of my company owns a vineyard in Margaret River. He just came back from harvest last week.
Poor kitty, though. Sounds like she has a urinary tract infection which is common in female cats. Hope she’s feeling better soon.
May 8th, 2006 at 3:25 pm | [ Quote ]
Thanks, Yaya
It’s actually my little boy who has the (possible) infection. Hopefully his new diet will fix things.