Today has been just a normal Sunday, it was cloudy and a bit gloomy. Nothing really of not besides for the 2nd day in a row no one told me about dinner when it was done and I almost didn't get any AGAIN! It happened yesterday too. We had grilled cheese and tomato soup. This tomato soup is a lot better than the Campbells soups though and it usually goes pretty fast when we make it. I hat it when I am almost left out of stuff like that, it gets on my nerves.

I am a bit behind in school right now in all my classes except Astronomy. I don't remember if I told you, but we have these weekly quizzes we are supposed to take online on the weekends and I forgot to do a few. My professor was kind enough to unlock them and let me do them so I could get the points. They are pretty hard quizzes, it took me a good 2 and a half hours to get them done. That was earlier this week sometime I think.  I have been able to stay caught up lately which I am glad about. I have a lot to do in my English class though. I am sure I'll survive somehow, I just have to pace myself slowly and keep my mind relaxed. I nearly forgot to do this weeks Astronomy quiz, it was only 20 minutes before it was due before I remembered. I was able to finish it in 12 minutes and get 11 / 20. Not the best score, but it'll have to do.

We had a test in Yoga on Thursday, I was the last one to finish and I actually had to correct after class with the teacher because I was so slow to finish. I was a bit embarrassed, but I did try my best. I even tried to study in my two hours of free time between classes, but couldn't concentrate. I ended up giving up and just heading to class and looking up some stuff on my phone before we did the test. I will be glad to be doing actual Yoga in class again this week. I still have a few things to turn in, but I have to worry about English first. I got all thrown off and stuff and now I am in big trouble. I'm really going to have to crack down on everything this week.

Saturday was boring, I just watched Star Trek, hung out, and did lazy stuff all day. I didn't get any homework done this weekend. I know that is bad, but I had to get organized and plan everything out. I have a feeling I am going to have to be extra motivated this week. 

I went out for Ice cream on Thursday, and got Lime Ricky sherbet. I love Lime Ricky sherbet, it is one of my favorite. I ate it on the way to my yoga class, I was trying to calm down and relax, I was super worried about the test.  I had some cherry chocolate chip ice cream earlier this week, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would so I decided to get the sherbet the next day.  On Friday they were out of the fruit and yogurt parfaits they have usually, but they had these cherry chocolate pudding pie cups and I decided to try one out. It had whipped cream, cake, pudding, and the cherry filling which was pretty good. I don't think I will get it again, much to sweet and strong for me, but it was good for a one time spur of the moment thing. I had woken up late on Friday, so I didn't get to eat breakfast and I was pretty hungry after English.  I usually do not buy so much stuff at school. I think I am pretty much broke for the next week and a half which kind of sucks.

I've been in kind of a bad mood today, I get that way sometimes. It always passes, but I really don't like it. I probably should have payed more attention to church today for sure.  I went out and visited some of the people in my ward today with my visiting teaching companion. For those who are not familiar with what visiting teaching is it's when you have a female companion, and you are assigned to two different people (girls) and you visit them and talk and give a lesson about some gospel topic once a month.  It can be fun, not everyone's visiting teachers come though, like mine for example. Mine haven't come in over 2 months I'm pretty sure and believe me I hate it. I might just have to complain soon.

I'm still talking to Ronnie, but we haven't gotten to talk very often lately for the last month or so. His life has been pretty complicated and tough and stuff. I really wish I could do more, but he lives so far away it's hard. I really care about him a lot he is an amazing person.

Anyway, I guess this is all for now. If I forgot anything I'll just add it into tomorrows post.   <3

Today in Pilates we used these foam rolls that were about 3 feet high. Our instructor told us how to use them to help smooth out the fasca in our bodies. It was pretty painful, but felt good at the same time. I think I might have to get one of those foam rolls. There are a few things we use in Pilates that I do not have yet, like the ring, the weights, and a few other things. Anyway it was a really fun class, we used the ball weights for the first time today, I really liked them a lot. After we did the ball weights we did the foam roll thing.

Here is what I mean by foam roll. Just a short example.

We talked about Uranus and Neptune today in Astronomy, it was really fun. I was a little late to class and missed the in class quiz because of my English class previous to my Astronomy class. My teacher was nice enough to give me half credit anyway. I have never really known much about those two planets and it was really fun learning about them. In English we talked about the presidential debate, and this assignment that we are doing for it. We analyzed the different aspects of the debate, and how they answered the questions, and when they didn't answer the questions very well.  It was pretty interesting all the different points of view we got in the class from everyone.

I've been looking up videos on youtube about people that go blind for a day. What they do is they usually have a blindfold and sometimes a cane (if they do it right) and they just try to do everything completely blind for a day. I am legally blind, my vision sucks, but I still think that someday I would like to try this. I think I could have a lot of fun doing it, mostly because I already know how to handle a situation like that and I know I can do it correctly because I've been taught from a young age. When I was younger I was at risk for glaucoma and they thought that I would maybe develop it. I was taught how to do stuff for this reason. I never developed it, but now I have all this knowledge I can use in this kind of situation. If I do go blind for a day I will make sure to get it on video for sure. I probably won't do it for a while, but when I do I will share it with you guys.

I went shopping with my mom and sister after school. We just went to Costco and picked up a few things like cheese, chips, eggs, and a couple other things I don't remember. It was a pretty short trip. Afterwards we went to another store nearby and my sister and I bought some pecan caramel bars, and she bought some gluten free flower. We went home after these. The pecan caramel bars were great.

Anyway, nothing else worth note really happened today, at least nothing I remember right now. If I do remember something I will just do what I usually do and edit.

After my last entry was posted and we had hamburgers for dinner and lemon bars for dessert most of us went our ways and I went downstairs as usual to do my own thing. I was at the computer doing something, I think looking up youtube videos when out of nowhere this really big wasp just flies past me and freaks me out. I closed my laptop, turned out my light and went upstairs hoping it would be attracted to light and leave my room. I told my family about it and my brother went looking for it in my room. I kind of assumed it left because it wasn't flying around, or bugging me or anything. I always kept my eyes open the whole time before I went to bed though. I was so sure it was gone until I was watching Star Trek Voyager before bed and sure enough it starts bugging me. I think it might have been behind my bed or something because it didn't bother me until I was sitting on it. I just kind of ignored it for a while. I was just sitting there watching Voyager when I put my fingers down right on the spot where it just HAPPENED to be and right after I registered it was there I got a very sharp, painful prick on my middle finger.

I promptly freaked out and panicked. At first I wasn't sure it was the wasp at first, I have never been stung by a wasp before last night so I didn't know what it felt like. I was afraid it had been a spider or something because of how painful it was. I was so freaked out I turned on my light and started looking around for it. The little pest was still on my bed! I got it to fly off the bed and around the room for a while, about 2 or 3 minutes. I couldn't get it, and I was too freaked out to just sleep there anyway, so I grabbed one of my pink blankets from my closet and a pillow and moved out into the family room. I made sure it didn't follow me out and shut my door.

I set up and then lied down on the couch. I just lied there just thinking about what happened. I was pretty upset and was still in shock a little bit. It made my heart beat kind of fast, it was scary. Right then Ronnie just happened to send me a message, I missed him by one minute, but I sent him back one telling him what had happened. I was so relieved to see he said something I actually started to cry. I was pretty genuinely freaked out by what had happened and it was just perfect timing for him to say something. I was able to relax and calm down after I sent him a message.

I went to sleep after this, and slept pretty good.

In the morning just the usual stuff happened, got ready for school, ate breakfast (Cocoa Krispies), listened to a bit of music, and then went to school a bit early today because my sister had a doctor's appointment.

I was pretty worn out and slept through my institute class. In English we learned more about the classes we have to take in order to graduate, and we actually made a list and organized it and stuff, so now I have a whole list of the classes I need to take.

Today was a review in Yoga for a test we are taking on Thursday. I didn't have to wear my yoga clothes today, so I just walked around the school for a while before class. I lost track of time and was a couple minutes late for yoga, but it was fine because the instructor started late. We just talked about everything that is going to be on the test, I tried to take notes but gave up because he was going to fast for me. I just listened after this. 

After school I called my sister and she came and picked me up. We also picked up my mom. We went home after this and I just hung out for the rest of the day reading manga, doing stuff on twitter, and some other things that aren't worth mentioning. Oh, and I didn't see that wasp until after school, it was dead when we found it. I am so glad it's gone. I hope that is the last I see of any bugs in my room for a while.

I did watch the presidential debate for a little bit, but zoned out when I started reading my friends posts on facebook.

Anyway, so that is all for now. If I forgot to mention anything I will just add it later.

I chose today to return to Xanga because today is kind of special to me. Today is White Cane Safety Day / Blind Americans Equality Day. White Cane Day is an international day that is celebrated in more than just our country. It's a day for recognizing blind and visually impaired people, it's a day for recognizing the white cane and it's importance, and it's a day for equality.

Some of you know I was born blind, but after a year I started to get my sight back. I never got it completely back, but I do have enough to get around. I am legally blind in both eyes even with correction. My best eye can only be corrected to 20/200 and the other 20/300. I have almost no depth perception, I have ocular albinism, and Nystagmus (involuntary movement of the eyes). I started going to the school for the blind in the 2nd grade, I was there for almost 4 years (until half way through 5th grade). They taught us about canes and how to use them, braille, mainstream stuff like math, English, reading, and a few other things I don't remember right now.  I met some of my best friends there. When I first got there there was only 5 or 6 other people in the class, then they had a class for younger students next door. We also did stuff like music, and art, and we played on the playground.  There was 3 or 4 different teachers that helped us in class, everything was very organized and I loved it at that school very much. We had this system set up where we would earn fake money if we were good, and at the end of the week we would hold a little store where we could buy stuff. I think I have talked about this in the past, but I don't remember. It was always a blast at that school, I loved it so much it was amazing. I did have rough times sometimes, but it usually worked out.

I actually have a memory from one year there of us celebrating white cane day. We invited the sighted kids to come and do stuff with us in the gym there at the school. It was so long ago, all I remember is that we had made or gotten a bunch of simulation goggles that simulated different vision problems. We let people put those on and use the white canes we had. We also taught people how to use the white canes as well. I didn't know it was white Cane Safety Day that day, but I still had fun! Actually I didn't even know about White Cane Safety Day until 3 years ago, it's surprising I never caught onto it. I am extra glad I remembered that day we had in school now.  I had a crush on a boy named Jessie back then, I remember he was there too.

My best friend there was Eric, you probably know about him a little bit. He was my best friend until my first year of college back in 2007 -2008. I had to quit talking to him after he got married. I had a couple rough years after I had to let him go because we had been so close. When we met at the school for the blind we didn't always get along, we actually fought a lot, but we always made up. He could be scary sometimes (he is very big), and had a kind of bad temper from losing his dad and stuff but we always had fun with each other.

I have had a cane for most of my life, but have been too stubborn to use it up until a few years ago. I don't use it all the time, just sometimes because glasses really don't do enough for me.  There are 2 types of canes for visually impaired people. There is the ID cane, which is more for letting people know you have bad vision rather than for getting around (it does help but that is not what it's primary purpose is). Then there are mobility canes which are for not only letting people know you have bad or no vision, but for getting around. People that can get around, but still have a little bit of trouble but don't need the cane all the time might use an ID cane. I currently only have a mobility cane and I feel a bit weird using it because I don't need it all the time. I am going to get an ID cane because I know I won't feel as weird using it. 

Not everyone that uses a cane is completely blind, there are actually quite a few people that use a cane that aren't completely blind, so don't be surprised when you see a person with a cane sometimes do something a sighted person can do. Anyone that is legally blind or worse can use a White cane.

There are three different materials you can get a cane in. Graphite, aluminum, and fiber glass. There are solid canes, folding canes and telescope canes so far as types go. The most sturdy ones are the graphite ones, that is what mine is currently. Mobility canes have a golf grip at the top, ID canes do not. If you want to know more about the design of canes you can go to the AmbuTech website.  ID canes are also lighter than mobility canes, cheaper and not as sturdy.  I guess this is the case because they are built more for identification rather than for mobility. My vision is unpredictable so I want to have both types.

I have created a Twitter for facts about blind people it's @theblindfacts  if you are on twitter follow my 2nd account.

Anyway, I got glasses 5 years ago but I got the prescription for those at a kind of bad eye doctor so I haven't had an accurate prescription in over 6 years now, possibly more. Today I went and found the glasses I am going to be buying next month probably. I don't use glasses that much because they make me feel like I lose my awareness because they mess up my peripheral vision and stuff. I do use them for movies, video games, tv, and other stuff like that however. Outside those kinds of things glasses really have no use for me. I have my own way of doing things. I have refused to wear them for my whole life, so now I'm just so used to going without them that it's just too weird to use them all the time.

I didn't end up using my cane at all today, but I have been keeping track of those who do use their canes, like friends and stuff. It takes a lot more guts than people realize to use a cane in public. Almost everyone that uses a cane has had to overcome the obstacle of self consciousness.

So, today after I picked out my glasses I went to school. Nothing that interesting happened in English, in Astronomy we talked about Saturn and Jupiter though, that was awesome. In Pilate's today I didn't wear my exercise clothes because I thought we were having a test review day, it turns out that is only for Yoga this week and not Pilates, so I had to do the class today in my jeans and green shirt, it was kind of weird. I definitely see why no one would ever want to do it in jeans.

After school my mom got a lamp fixed and we bought some pumpkins from the store and then went home. That is what has happened so far.  If anything happens I'll edit when the day is done. 

Anyway, so that was my day today. Some people hold White Cane walks to the state capitol in some states on White Cane Safety Day. I am not sure if my state does that, but I have seen people in other states that have done that.  In New Hampshire they actually took it a step further and made shirts as well which I think is very cool. The mayor then gives some kind of declaration, I'm not sure exactly what it is but it has to do with blind people and their rights and stuff like that. I am pretty sure it has a lot to do with the day itself as well. It takes place at the state capitol of the states that hold the white cane walk. I saw last year a group of visually impaired dancers even did a flash mob. Of course some people choose to celebrations before or after White cane safety Day as well because the actual day might not be convenient for some people and other situations.

White Cane Safety Day Flash Mob (2011)

The music used in this video is the actual music they used.  If you pay attention closely you can hear them playing at the same time.

I guess this is all for now. I'll edit later if I decide I need to say anything more.

Oh and did you guys know that this month is also Disability Awareness month?

Please rec his post. I think more people should know about White Cane Safety Day / blind American's Equality Day.  <3