Let's see here... Where to start...
I was born on July 23, 1981 in Long Beach, California. A week later, my family moved all the way to Mount Vernon, WA. 8 months later, I came down with something called Spinal Meningitis, from what I understand, I spent about a month at a hospital recovering. While I had the meningitis, I also got a high fever / temperature that basically melted the hair in my cochlea. Because of that, I was left Deaf. For those who needs an anatomy lesson, the hair in your cochlea is what carries the sound from your ear to your brain.
When my parents found out I would be Deaf for the rest of my life, they started crying. They contacted my uncle, who is now a retired teacher for the Deaf and asked him for advice. He told them, "Don't treat him special, pamper him, shelter him, or whatever... Allow him to experience the world for himself." That's what my parents have done ever since. Because other parents would just freak out and say "Fix his hearing, no matter what it costs..." I'm grateful that my parents did not do anything and was like "Okay, we can work with this..." That's what they have done for me my whole life. They have not tried to shelter me from experiencing the world for myself. I do not see my being Deaf as a disability, I see it as a challenge for me to rise up to and overcome it.
Approx Christmas 1985 (or 1986), my parents divorced. As I understand the story, my father got off work one day and didn't come home. My mother waited a couple hours and decided to send my grandpa after him to see what's going on. Remember, back then, there wasn't cell phones. My grandpa drove to Anacortes (cuz dad works there), and drove among the residences til he found dad's car in front of a house. He walked to the door and knocked on it. The young boy who lives there answered it and my grandpa asked him where is my father. The boy said, "Upstairs with my mom." So he went upstairs and saw that he was in bed with the lady. He was like, "Oh... Okay..." then told my father, "Do not come home at all." Then he went back to inform my mother, and my mother was like, "Hmmm... Guess it's time..." So next day, she filed divorce papers. My mother raped my father for pretty much everything he had, the house, land, car, and so on...
After the divorce, I visited my dad on weekends, and some of the summers... 2 or 3 years later, he disappeared without saying anything... I didn't even hear from him til 3 years ago where he sent me a letter talking about what he been doing & etc... I only read it and was like, "*laughs*" then shredded it without a thought.
Let's see, where now... Ah, elementary... I went to public school with 4 other Deaf kids. As coincidence would have it, they were in the same grade as myself. We had an intepreter. At the end of 3rd grade, my grandpa, my mother, and I went down to the State School for the Deaf and I guess my mother decided that it would be the best place to send me so I went there.
Fall of '89, I started going to the State School for the Deaf in 4th grade... I pretty much coasted my way through... A waste of 9 years... I coasted my way because the material they taught at the school was stuff I had already learned from when I was at public school. I didn't really care about classes & etc... I did good enough to graduate and move on, this was spring of '99.
Fall of '99, I began school at Gallaudet University, and for those who wonders... Gallaudet is a University for the Deaf (pretty much) and offers BA, MBA, and PhD degrees...
http://www.gallaudet.edu for those who cares... I spent 2 years going here because I needed to get away from my mother and it was a perfect escape so I could have some time to figure out what it was I wanted to do. At the end of the 2nd year, I just dropped out and didn't return home or let mom know where I was at...
I moved down to South Carolina for a month, then moved up to Chicago for a year. After that, I went to Indiana, then to Spokane, WA. I loved Chicago and I hope to be able to return there someday. I decided to experience something that would be only a one-timer. Since I was moving from Indiana to Spokane, WA, I decided I'll ride the Greyhound to see what it's like to travel over a huge distance. Now I know I will not be doing that again because dammit, it was a long and a boring ride... I wanted to kill myself after 24 hours... It was a good experience... the bus went from Cincinnati to Madison, WI, to St. Paul, Fargo, Billings, then finally Spokane.
I moved here to Spokane because a friend of mine was looking for a roommate and asked me. I didn't even give it a minute's thought. I was like, "Sure! Be there in a few days..." And just packed up 2 suitcases and was on my way.
When I got here, I started looking for some type of employment. 2 years later, haven't found any work. So with the support of my mother, I returned to school here at Spokane Falls Community College chasing an Associate's degree. I didn't even bother to transfer any credits I collected at Gallaudet since I wanted to start on a clean slate. My advisor understood that and allowed me to do so. Now I had to decide on what major I wanted to study. I spent a year taking various classes... I thought about, at first, English, but was like, "eh, what would I be doing?" then started thinking about technical writing, archaelogist, linguistics, then started thinking about the business fields... Then it was here I decided, I'll do something in business... I thought about the many fields available from Accounting to Management to Operations, and so on... I narrowed it down to two fields... Human Resources and Operations.
I chose Human Resources as my first choice, Operations as my second, because I think it would be an interesting experience to be working in a human resources office and watch people come in and try to talk to me. Then I would say "Uh, I can't hear you... You'll have to write..." then watch their reaction on their faces and see how they figure out how to communicate with me.
And now, I had to decide where to go for my BA degree. I knew it would be somewhere here in the State of Washington. But where? So I chose 2 universities... Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA... Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. I did my applications & etc... and mailed them out October 13, 2006. Now how to pick if both gets back to me with an acceptance letter... I decided I would pick the first school that sends me an acceptance letter. 3 weeks later, I heard from Western Washington University and they had accepted me as a new incoming transfer student for Fall '07. I was like, "Oh crap..."
Because that meant I had to pack up everything I have and move from one side of the state to the other side... So I decided I will go to Western. I informed my mother, she was like, "Oh yes!! I'm glad you're coming home. Now we will all be together again..." I was like, "Ughhhhh" because I can see it... She'll e-mail me every damn day asking "Wanna go to dinner? Wanna go to Canada?" blah blah blah...
So um, let's see, what else... I'm in my last quarter at Spokane Falls Community College... I have taken 116 credits over the last 2 years and half and I think I have done pretty well for myself, I carried a 3.3 gpa... I'm only taking 6 credits this quarter since I pretty much finished everything else. I'm taking Math and Bowling. Math = Calculus, which is why I'm posting math help threads here often
lol ...
Come June 21st, I'll be packing up all my things in a moving truck and heading onto the road for Mount Vernon, WA. I will be returning home to the land / house where I grew up.
Oh yea, forgot to mention... I have a older brother who's quite several years older than me. I had a female dog named Max who was killed a few years ago waiting at the edge of the driveway by an idiot who wasn't paying attention. She was a damn good dog, she somehow knew I was Deaf because one night I was sleeping, she jumped on me because she needed to go outside.
Anyway... I know it's long but eh, lol... I'll respond to comments as time permits today since for unknown reasons my desktop has decided to take a huge crap on me. I think a part burned out or something... And tonight, I will be going drinking for a friend's 21st... So
lol...
- 9-11- Always Remember- 
