You will need some back story to appreciate this one.
Partner and I are learning American Sign Language ( ASL). Many of the folks that I work with need alternative forms of communication and partner is also on the hard of hearing spectrum, so it is a good time to be embarking on this adventure, even though at my tender age ( fifty plus), perceptual motor learning is going to be challenging, no matter what it is and no matter how motivated I am ( and I am quite motivated). One of the culminating assignments was a video of partners enaging in a series of signed dialogues, which would necessarily include a broad sweep of all the vocabulary from the past 12 weeks of the course. To say that the instructions were a bit unclear and ambiguous would be an understatement, but we persevered all the same, and our instructor brought in a demo video as a template, so we figured we had it figured out and we proceeded, onwards through the fog. One of the instructions was that the total running time was to be 10 minutes, max. No way, unless us two rank novices become the flying hands project ( which we didn't!! ). A few other details to include here would be that a) our whole downstairs was given over to this production, with a backdrop and lights and camera, b) partner cannot memorize to save his ass so we also had tri-fold poster boards filled with our dialogue in 36 font placed strategically on dining room chairs behind the camera c) the dialogues were preceded by "mandatory" signing of our name ( hi, my name is.... ) followed by "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs", followed by the numbers 1-100, then addition and subtraction, and concluding with objects and colours ( black coffee, brown chair, red table.... ).
And, remember, we are working towards a 10 minute deadline.
So, we practice and practice and then do the first video... over 14 minutes; then another 13: 40 something; then another and another. Now our forearms are cramping from the numbers, so we pack it in and pick it up the next day. Next day, we make some adjustments in our scintillating dialogue and we get it down to 13: 11.... amazing; partner needs to adjust the poster boards since we had to do some re-typing and re-applying, and now he can't see it quite evenly, and that's when we decided to use some books to raise and stabilize the posters. Another detail that you should know is that partner is a supremely over-educated man, one of his areas of study being religion, and we have MANY books on that subject.... thus it was that one such book made its way into one of our stabilizing piles but at a critical juncture slid out and landed on the floor. We had by that time gotten our speed down to 12:20 but the camera did not record.... so, while we wailed and gnashed our teeth, we noticed the title of the book.... yes, indeed " A Whirlpool of Torment". It's obviously a sign. Or at the very least, a theme!
Next take, 12:09. At that point, we said, oh gosh darn, that will do** (or words to that effect).
That's the saga; we handed in the video last Thursday night, still awaiting another sign... ( thumbs up or down!! )
This week's class, our last one, spontaneous storytelling and conversation. I'll keep you posted...
regardless, this has been one of the most intriguing learning experiences of my life... and I am looking forward to continuing. Onwards, through the fog.
