Uh, Hi again. Let's talk.

 

This year has not been the best year so far for me. Regardless, so far, I managed to publish a post in January and March. I really do want to do more. I’ve essentially been mostly bedridden with chronic migraine pain though for the past two years. I’m working on trying to figure out ways to manage it, but in my case it is way more complicated than just simple chronic migraines.

I’d rather not get into that though, just know I am trying. I am still passionate about writing. I still have plans for this blog. I still have a long list of ideas for this blog as well, and a backlog of posts I haven’t yet published because I’ve been in too much pain to be at my computer. Today, as I’m typing this, is one of those rare good days. So, today, I’m typing up a Q&A type post full of questions I found that I thought would be fun to answer. I found them all in various places.

So, I hope you enjoy this random post:

1) What’s your favorite color?

I am partial to pink and light blue, that might’ve been because that was the theme of my bedroom, but I absolutely love those two colors. Also, my birthstone color is turquoise and I happen to like that color as well. So, pink and blue.

2) What’s your favorite artist/song?

My favorite artist is Hilary Duff, no hesitation there. Her songs have helped me through so much. Favorite song though? Yeah, that one is tougher to answer. I don’t even know if I have a favorite Hilary Duff song. I will admit there are some songs from her I like more than others, but a favorite? I honestly don’t know.

3) What do you fear the most?

Good question. I used to think it was heights, but it’s not, and I’m honestly very terrified of heights, have been my whole life. Recently though, I’ve realized my true worst fear, and that’s being truly alone. I’m working through that, I’m not about to talk about that online though.

4) What are your weaknesses?

Kryptonite, that’s my only weakness. Lol, no, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t sneak in a Superman reference when I get the chance, but this is not as random as you think when you think about the fact that in college, my Sorority nickname was Supergirl. So, I have two true weaknesses. One is math, probably due to my disabilities. The other is anger. The anger is my true Kryptonite. Well, I guess, when you think about it, they both are? Math is the green K and the anger is the red K. I have been working on the anger over the years and it has gotten a lot better, but there are still things I need to work on and I am working on them.

5) What are your strengths?

My strengths? Well, one of them is stubbornness. I suppose the nice way of putting it is determination, but I don’t mind calling it stubbornness. Being stubborn runs in the family. There was one time where I used my stubbornness to my advantage in a major way. I was supposed to go home a semester early when I had one more semester before I finished two years. I wanted to at least compromise and graduate with a two year degree. Mom at first said no, I’m not sure if she had no idea how it was possible, but I wasn’t about to give up that easily, so I fought. I fought so hard, the president of the college pulled a few strings. It still meant that I had to do 6 classes instead of 5 and spend the rest of that time in work study, but I took it! And I freaking graduated! It’s also my proudest moment, right there!

6) What do you look forward to the most?

Hmm, the little things. I tend to live life day by day, so I just look forward to the little things. I have current little things that I look forward to based on what is happening at the moment, like for instance, during high school, I always looked forward to watching Smallville every week. Now, during the present, I do have a few little things I look forward to. I am currently looking forward to season 3 of The Orville. I am always looking forward to the next episode of Superman & Lois. I am also always looking forward to seeing Alysia’s livestreams on her youtube channel, they’re always fun!

BTW, this is her youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/avp60685

7) What do you consider to be your skills?

Hmm, well, one of them is definitely writing. Writing has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I’ve always had a way with words. I’ve written stories for as long as I can remember too. Remember when I said my greatest fear is being truly alone? I figured it out through writing, apparently. My mom reminded me of this, but apparently, when I was younger, most of my stories had me having a big family and lots of friends. I did get better at writing over the years though.

I will say this, I used to do the roleplays on a couple forums with a friend. They were based on a show we both used to watch. Once again, I will say, I got better at writing and… yeah. BUT, the character I wanted to roleplay was taken, the second choice was too. So, I made my own character. The sad irony is, I played The Sims all the time, part of that was character creation, lol. Let’s just say, it was very cringy, and the character I made would have made way more sense in another show which, another irony, I didn’t watch yet until years later. I am much better at creating characters for stories now, I promise, and The Sims is a part of helping me with that.

So, yeah, that’s a bit more about me. Like I said above, I have a long list of blogpost ideas and a backlog of posts that I haven’t been able to publish yet. So, I have plans. This blog gives me a purpose and I’m not giving up on that purpose. Like I also said in this post, I am stubborn! Hopefully, I’ll be able to post more soon. Just please, be patient and understanding with me? Anyways, I hope it was fun to learn a bit more about me.

Until next time…

~ Chloe

Let's talk about The Orville

 

Now, I am not a long-time fan of The Orville, but I can say I am a big fan of The Orville. I started not too long ago, about a year ago, but long after season two has been out on Hulu, and binge-watched both seasons. Recently, The Orville crew members have come out and said that the premiere of season 3 was pushed back from March 10^th to June 2^nd, but hey, that’s okay, we’ve waited this long, what’s a few more months, right? That same day, they showed us the opening scene of the very first episode of the season.

Here is The Orville: New Horizons (The First Scene):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAWJq0fetYw

Now, there are so many theories running rampant about this, some are similar to each other though. I have my own theory and it’s psychological, but despite me saying so in a stream, which I will link to, and my psychological background, you could argue who had this kind of theory first, and that’s okay. But, my theory is that Marcus has PTSD and this is Marcus’ nightmare. I explained it better in my online sister, Alysia’s stream, where we picked apart this scene.

Here is a link to her stream:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsXVBEFpkjk

Please excuse my voice, I have a speech impediment and probably a deaf accent due to me being hard of hearing. I hope, despite that, you can understand me. Anyways, after that, I saw something from another one of the top Orville fans, JP. He has this theory which was inspired by a tweet he saw that it is actually Isaac’s dream. He actually had some very good points in his video which is why I am including it here.

This is the link to his video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE0gBH16_Ug

Yes, I do agree, androids do dream of electric sheep. He brought up a good point. I had a theory, which I’m not sure I made public yet, except for maybe once in one of Alysia’s streams that maybe Isaac could learn empathy, so he’s not the only one with that theory, especially with some of his behaviors in the “Identity” episodes and even before that, with Claire.

Despite agreeing with some of JP’s points in his video, I still believe this is Marcus’ nightmare though, so who’s theory is the right one? Place your bets now. Just thought I’d have a bit of fun with this, lol.

Anyways, that's a bit of information from:

JP: The Orville Evangelist

Alysia: The Orville Ambassador

And me (Chloe): The Orville Psychoanalyst

Anyways, until next time, engage quantum drive!

~ The Orville Psychoanalyst

English (and ASL) is strange…

 

Before I get into anything, I apologize for my recent hiatus, I had stuff going on, simple as that. Also, a belated Happy New Year! Now...

Let me explain… This is a quote from my online sister’s Twitter:

“I never realized how weird the English language is. So we use almost a singular word hair to indicate multiple hairs if we're getting say a haircut/hairstyle/etc. Yet in other foreign languages they automatically use the plural versions of these words. Think about it.”

Source: https://twitter.com/avp60685/status/1483523780978880513

Now, let me put this in a little better context with a little bit of backstory. We’re both writers. Neither one of us is published (yet) but one of us is working on it. She’s also bilingual, she is fluent in French. She also knows some words in like 5 other languages, I think? So, I think it’s safe to say she is much better than I am, oh and yes, English is both of our first languages. And here I am still struggling to learn my second language, which is ASL, which I posted about back in October of 2020, Jeez.

So, I did a little research, as I usually do, so I don’t sound like a fool and spread misinformation and found a few articles on how English really is a strange language, and yes, this is really two native English speakers confirming this. So, if two native English speakers are saying this, I wonder what it’s like for people learning English as a 2^nd or 3^rd language, or so on? Here is an article on the weirdest English rules:

https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/weirdest-english-rules

I mean, sure, I have a way with words, but so does Alysia, the online sister I just mentioned. She’s the linguistic one. I’m the one having trouble continuing with a novel while she probably has 3-4-5 novels already written! How does she do it? I need to know her secrets, especially with all these weird rules. Just google why English is weird, you’ll get a kick out of it.

On the other side of it, signed languages are unique in their own ways too. For instance, each country has its own signed language, maybe more than one, depending on the region, I am not sure. I’m only focusing on ASL for this post, which is American Sign Language, because I live in America. I will admit, I’m still trying to learn ASL, I’m still trying to immerse myself into the culture, but as I was learning, I’ve learned a few unique things, which might be more normal than the weird spoken English rules I talked about earlier in the post. This is just my perspective from a hard of hearing person who is learning ASL as a second language while in her 30s.

One thing I learned is that some signs are the same but they mean different things. This confuses my mom a lot, she knows more SEE and while I know some SEE, I’ve been trying to learn more ASL, but this still confuses me sometimes. Let me show you an example:

https://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/s/someone.htm

https://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/c/clean.htm

As you see here, if you click the first link here. You’ll see the sign for “someone”, BUT it also means “single”, “something”, “alone”, and “only”. Now, how can we tell the difference? CONTEXT. How can you tell the context? Facial movements, that’s a big thing in learning signed languages, all signed languages, not just ASL, I am still trying to learn the right facial expressions, still trying to learn my style, etc.

The second link is the sign for “clean”. It also means “nice”. I added this one because there is another way to tell the context. Now, when you sign “nice” it could be accompanied by “nice to meet you”. That is a standard greeting, right? Now, if you sign “clean” it could be signed as “clean-up” like the person signing is trying to say “clean up your room” for instance. That’s how you can tell context as well, by watching the sentence as a whole, not looking at it sign by sign.

Another thing I learned is that some signs can look similar, but they mean different things. Here are some examples:

https://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/c/clean.htm

https://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/s/school.htm

https://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/p/paper.htm

Just note, the first link is supposed to be “clean-up”, it tells you how to sign it towards the bottom of the first page. The other two signs are “school” and “paper”. I showed you those three because those are similar. Of course, there are others that are similar, like “coffee” and another sign that is signed very similar to that, not repeating the word here, but hopefully you can see what I mean here.

That is my experience as an ASL “student” not really a student, but somebody who is trying to learn, later in life. I get signs confused all the time, heck, when I’m speaking, I get tongue tied all the time as well, and that’s with speaking English. That’s because I have slow processing disorder and my brain sometimes goes faster than I speak or sign. Anyways, I’m trying, and hopefully, you learned something here today.

Until next time, stay happy and healthy. 

- Chloe

Get to know me

 

Okay, so I saw this picture that a friend of mine posted. It was a “get to know me” type of thing where it had about 30 questions. You post the image in a tweet and people would post the number of the question they want answered. The person who posted the image would answer. Since that is not accessible to the visually impaired and I'm not very good at keeping answers brief, I thought I would type the whole thing out here and answer them, and you would get to know me as well.

Let's get started:

1) Explain your Twitter handle.

My Twitter handle is @MissWatchtower. I used to be obsessed with Smallville, a show about a young Clark Kent. He had a best friend named Chloe Sullivan. Chloe was, and still is, my favorite character. As the seasons went on, Chloe became a character named Watchtower. I named my Twitter Handle after my favorite character.

2) Who inspires you and why?

Well, if we're talking fictional people, that would be Chloe Sullivan, from Smallville. She was the first person I looked up to because I did not have very many good role models growing up and a fictional character was who I could relate to the most.

If we're talking real people, it'd be my online sister, Alysia. She brought me under her wing twice. The first time was when I first started in my first community, which was the Smallville community. The second one was the community I'm in now, the Orville community. She also encourages me, and I do the same. We've got each other's backs.

3) Do you care what others think of you?

Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that I am very insecure sometimes. When I am insecure, I feel like people judge me more, even if it's not true. No, in the sense that when I am having one of my good days and I am confident, then nothing people say will bring me down, but I usually don't meet very many people who are just mean. Once in a while I do, but not usually.

4) What are you most looking forward to?

Right now? Season 3 of the Orville. Simple as that. If you haven't seen it yet, you still have plenty of time to see both seasons on Hulu before it comes out.

5) What is one life rule you follow?

Hmm... That's a tough one. I guess it's treat others as you would want to be treated, but stand up for yourself when you are treated wrongly.

6) What's your dream job?

It used to be counseling, but now, I don't know. Freelance writer maybe?

7) Which fictional character do you wish you could meet?

Chloe Sullivan. Simple as that.

8) As a child, what did you want to be when you grow up?

A teacher and a writer.

9) If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?

Does Supergirl count? Because she is sometimes animated.

10) What skill would you like to master?

American Sign Language, although it's more like learning a language, not a skill. Or I would like to learn how to do some sort of craft, not sure what though.

11) In what situation would you feel most out of place in?

Any place with a really big gathering, and not just because of Covid. It's because I have really bad anxiety. There was even one story from my time in college, I accidently went way out of my limit and had and anxiety attack. Let's just say I was somewhere where I didn't know if I could get home safely.

12) What artist do you really like, but rarely admit to liking?

I don't just like, I love Hilary Duff. She got me through some really tough times. I only rarely admit to liking her because she is less popular now and the topic just rarely pops up.

13) What gets you fired up?

Writing in this blog, knowing I'm making a difference if I'm speaking up about disability issues, or just writing in here for fun because I love writing.

14) What annoys you the most about the fandoms you're part of?

I'm too new to my second fandom to comment on that, but my first one, well at first, they seemed to support me then all of a sudden, they forget me. That's what annoys me the most. They 'forgot' me in my time of need.

15) What do you do to get rid of stress?

I'm still working on this, to be honest. My technique, currently, is to distract myself, by watching TV or writing, or doing something else.

16) You have to relive one day of your life forever. Which day do you choose?

Umm... none? Let's revisit this question in the future, okay?

17) How quickly do you jump to conclusions about people?

It depends on the person, I guess. Some people are mysterious, some are more like an open book.

18) If you were a doll, what accessories would you be sold with?

A laptop, a tablet, a phone, a cup of coffee, there would even be a disability aid, which would be a hearing aid.

19) What have you done in life that has given you the most satisfaction?

Let's see... I'd say it was the time I fought to stay for my last semester of college to get my Associate's Degree in Psychology. The experience taught me how to fight and not give up.

20) What would be the worst thing to put in a pinata?

I know Pinata is not spelled correctly, techincally, it needs that symbol. I do not know how to do it, I have tried. Anyways, I don't know... razors?

21) What's the biggest waste of money you've seen?

As of right now, this new show called “The Advocate”... The money used in this show could have gone straight to the charity instead of to this show.

22) What common misconception do you hate to hear repeated as a fact?

Anything about disability that the ableists get wrong.

23) Where is the best place to meet awesome people?

I don't know. In my experience, online. But you do have to be careful online too. I feel like I have to say that, but it is possible to meet wonderful people online.

24) What food do you crave most?

Pasta or cheeseburger. I can never get tired of those two foods.

25) What TV series do you keep coming back and re-watching?

Smallville, the show I grew up watching and The Orville, a new favorite show.

26) Among your friends, what are you best known for?

I guess being the logical one, sometimes the advice giver.

27) Who of your friends is most like you?

Alysia, my online sister, better known as AVP60685.

28) What was the most traumatizing moment in your life?

I have an answer, I just can't answer it online.

29) What's the best lesson you've learned from a work of fiction?

That's a tough one, because I've learned lots of lessons from works of fiction. I don't think I can choose just one.

30) What's something you'll never do again?

I have an answer, I just can't answer it online.

Well, those are all the questions. There are a few that are really hard to answer and I tried to answer, but I just couldn't. I think asking number 28 is out of line to be honest. If anyone is dealing with trauma, they shouldn't be pushed to answer from a question out of a lineup like this..

- Sincerely, Chloe

An Updated About Me

 

Hi, I'm Chloe. I'm 30 years old. Before I go into what this blog will be about, I want to tell you a little about what I am like now. I am a disabled nerdy geek. That's what I call myself now and it's not a bad thing. I still love reading and writing and I still love videogames. I also love sci-fi and superheroes.

I have a psychology background, kinda. I'm not a certified counselor, but I've been to college to study psychology and I have an Associate's Degree in Psychology. I still have a few of my textbooks. I took my studies seriously and I really wanted to be a counselor at one point.

Now, I am revamping the content of this blog, in a way. I will still be posting what I want. I still have a few posts I wrote last year, before I went on my unplanned hiatus, that I plan to post. I will still be posting some news that I see when I see it come across my Twitter timeline if I am able. But for the most part, I will be trying something different.

I will be talking about different shows that I like, at the moment, it may be mostly about the Orville. I might sprinkle in some other shows, but I'll explain as I go. What I will do is I will take different aspects of the show and talk about them with a different, psychological perspective. Let me explain:

Let's take the show, Supergirl:

(Warning there are spoilers after this!)

Okay, so Supergirl just came back from the phantom zone. She's been having nightmares/flashbacks of the phantoms. It was a traumatic thing for her. Even Supergirl needs a support system, right? And she's got it.

This is a good storyline, because it makes our favorite heroes even more relatable. What's important is that the writers are showing Kara having a good support system in her sister and her friends.

(End of Spoilers)

This is not a full review, just a very rough first draft. My final drafts would be much better than this and much more involved. There will be spoiler tags and trigger warnings if needed.

Feel free to check out my older posts as well.

Feel free to check out my Twitter: @MissWatchtower

Also... I think that's about it, until next time...

- Chloe

I'm back

 

So, it's been a year... well, almost. I have a good excuse. If you remember, I was planning on posting at least once a month, and I think I was doing pretty well, until October, my last post. It was about ASL, if I remember correctly. Well, soon after that, I was getting these really bad migraines. I ended up in the hospital and yes, it was right in the middle of the pandemic too! I was recovering in November when I had a family emergency regarding my Grandmother. It lasted longer than any of us expected. She passed away back in March. I was grieving for a long while and at the same time, I'm still getting these migraines everyday. I am getting them checked out.

At the same time, I am wanting to do something more, and I miss writing, but also, I feel like I was stuck in a rut with the blog, but I did not want to quit. I was having some sort of writer's block that just wouldn't go away. It didn't help that sometimes, I do not see very much news until it's too late to write about it on the blog because I have my computer off for the night or something.

So, I had an idea...

Parts of the blog will remain the same... but some of the content will be different. I am revamping the blog, in a way. Starting soon, I will be writing more often again, I'll start once a month, hopefully twice a month. I will be writing about shows, but I will be picking out psychological aspects of said show. One post will be about one topic of the show, next post will be on another topic of that show.

Warning: There will be spoilers on those posts and this warning will be written on that post as well. There will be trigger warnings where needed as well for those who need it as well.

I will still be writing about other things such as news I hear or other things that interest me. I still have blog posts from a year ago that I still want to post. I am excited about this blog again.

And again, I am sorry the hiatus was longer than expected. And please excuse the mess as I try to change a few things with the blog.

- Chloe

“I learn learn ASL” (I am learning ASL)

 

I am hard of hearing. I've been learning American Sign Language lately from a certified ASL teacher on Youtube. His name is Dr. Bill Vicars from Lifeprint.com (ASLU), and I've been learning from his videos for about two weeks now. There are a few reasons why I decided to learn sign language. I wanted to still be able to communicate if my hearing gets worse or if I could not wear my hearing aids for some reason.

Let me give you a little of my family history. My Uncle is deaf, so my Mom and her side of the family learned SEE to communicate with him. SEE is Signed Exact English, and most D/deaf people do not use SEE, they use ASL.

I was born hard of hearing. Growing up, my mom did not teach me sign language. I did learn a few signs here and there as I was growing up, but other than that, I never really learned the language. A few years ago, I had mentioned I was interested in learning ASL. I was given the family SEE book. I thought it was the same thing at first, boy was I wrong. I needed more interactive learning than just learning from a book, so I did my research and found Dr. Bill Vicars' website and youtube channel:

Here is the website:

https://lifeprint.com/

Here is the youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/billvicars/featured

Like I said, I started about a month ago. I breezed through the first few lessons. I am on Lesson 16 as of publishing this, This is the playlist I am watching:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6akqFwEeSpiLwRFA3ZvuOWMwPXwI7NqA

It is the official ASLU master playlist that is updated often with lessons. This is the playlist I am going off of because he seems to have updated some of the lessons and it's easier to find the other videos because they are already in this playlist.

I asked Dr. Vicars what the best way to “study” his videos was, and his recommendation was to view the lessons on his website, Lifeprint.com, as well as watching the lessons on Youtube. It will help you review the lessons.

Here is the page with the lessons:

https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/lessons/lessons.htm

There are other ways to learn ASL of course, this is just the only way that is accessible to me. I'm sure there are online courses you can take. But, I challenge you, if you're not already doing so, to learn a new skill. It doesn't have to be sign language, although it would be helpful for D/deaf and hard of hearing people. It could be learning how to craft something, learning an instrument, learning a new language, etc. But, I do challenge you, before the year is over, to start learning a new skill, if you haven't already.

Until next time, God Bless

- Chloe

Schools are re-opening way too soon

 

Schools are starting soon, if they haven't started back already. There are teachers and staff who are afraid to go back to work. It's because this virus, COVID-19, is NOT under control. I saw on CNN that there was this one student who took a picture of her school's crowded hallway. There was no social distancing and hardly anyone was wearing a mask. There are reports that students and staff are testing positive for the virus.

There are some places that are offering virtual learning as well as in-person learning, but in-person learning should not be available at this time. Not until the cases are much lower than they are. These are kids and teens, we should not be taking risks with their lives. There are also children and teenagers who may have health issues and have greater risks of getting the coronavirus.

All schools should move back to virtual learning for the time being. I know, it may be tough for some people, but this is a tough time for everyone, in several ways. We can get through this together if we follow the CDC guidelines.

I know I've said this before on my blog, but this pandemic is not over, and if we continue to open up this country, it's only gonna get worse. We're in this together, and if we work together, we can beat this virus. I think we need to lock this country down again for a little while in order to get this virus under control. 

Anyways, that is all I have to say.

Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and God Bless.

- Chloe

There's a new TikTok trend that needs to stop

 

I do not know much about TikTok. All I know is that there is a trend that I found out about that needs to stop. It is disturbing and it is teaching kids to be scared of people who look different. I found the article on Twitter from someone I follow, Lizzie Velasquez, she is a disability activist and motivational speaker who is talking about it. I'm not linking that specific article because it is behind a paywall, so I did a little research and found another article which I will link below, as always.

In this trend, parents are pranking their children by pretending to facetime with someone with a disability then showing their child. I saw a video of one such prank and the parent was pretending to facetime with none other than the disability activist I mentioned. The parent then shows their son, telling him that she's his teacher for the year and the son looks scared. Sometimes, the picture would be of a baby who was born different. It's disturbing! It's cruel!

I remember as a kid, I was taught early on by my mother to be accepting for two main reasons. One reason was that I had a disabled uncle. The other reason was that I'm disabled myself. I went to two schools for people with disabilities and my best friends have disabilities. So, believe me when I say, disability is not a thing to joke about.

Stop joking about disabled people or disability in general. Stop teaching children to fear disabilities. Children are naturally curious. Fear is only taught. So, teach your child, not fear, but acceptance.

- Chloe

Sources:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/disability-activist-condemns-facetime-tiktok-trend-211905157.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/lizzie-velasquez-tiktok-trend-facetime_ca_5f32b80fc5b6960c066cdd7a

https://www.unilad.co.uk/viral/anti-bullying-activist-lizzie-velasquez-asks-parents-to-stop-using-her-face-for-cruel-tiktok-prank/

Netflix is adding two documentaries about deaf communities

 Yeah, you read that right, and I, for one, am so happy about that. It's about deaf communities in America. The documentaries are gonna be called Deaf U and Audible.

Deaf U is about a group of students at Galludet University in Washington DC. Galludet is a well known private college for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. The show follows the students' lives as they navigate college life while giving us a good look at what the deaf community is like. This documentary will be on Netflix October 8th or 9th, 2020. That information was conflicting, the article said the 8th while the video description (if you click the video title) says the 9th.

Audible is about a high-school athlete, Amaree McKenstry-Hall, who went to the Maryland School for the Deaf high school. This show follows him and his friends as he goes through his senior year while grappling with going into the hearing world. The article did not say when this documentary was coming out, unless I missed it.

Of course, I have included the article I found this information in. It is linked below. I am excited for Deaf U. I am hard of hearing, but I have never known the deaf community. I am just learning about it now. Well, I first learned about it a few years ago. I want to learn more. I'm also glad that the deaf are getting more representation in media, proper representation.

Well, I'm gonna leave this here...

Until next time, God Bless

- Chloe

Source:

https://deadline.com/2020/07/netflix-two-documentaries-about-deaf-community-america-1202994593/

Let's talk about COVID-19

I don't think I could explain the coronavirus very well, so I will just link the CDC website here:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

This year has been a bad year for all of us because of this. We have all been affected by this. Cases are spiking again in the United States. This pandemic is not over. I feel like Florida is one of the worse states to be in right now, and that is the state I live in, just because the cases are so high. We live in crazy times, I know. But I'm begging you, from someone who just had a Covid scare, please wear a mask and please follow social distancing guidelines.

I get it, there are some exceptions. I will not list them here because I do not want to give someone any ideas. There are too many people not wearing masks though and there are too many people pretending they cannot for one reason or another. I wore one just before I got sick but there were other factors in play in why I probably got sick and I only went to Walmart to get groceries.  The mask that I have was too big. I have decided to remedy this by finally purchasing a smaller mask from Amazon. I figure, the better they fit, the more protection they give. That's just an assumption though. Two other reasons are that there were hardly anyone wearing masks and there were no social distancing. I am one of those people that are glad that stores are mandating masks now.

So... to recap:

The pandemic is not over. Please wear a face mask and please follow the social distancing guidelines. And if you do get sick, please follow the CDC guidelines... it's all in the link provided in this post!

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

I hope you stay safe and healthy.

Until next time, God Bless.

- Chloe

I usually never post something like this, but...

I am trying to share something that is important to a good friend of mine, therefore, it is important to me. First, let me tell you a little about her. Her name is Alysia. She is like a sister to me. I met her over 10 years ago online. She one of the kindest souls I have ever encountered. She has a youtube channel and a blog which I will link you to.

Blog:

http://avp60685.blogspot.com/

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVuHMMhku7NhEiGSyRkAieA

She is trying to move her and her mother out of the state she's in to be closer to her family. It is for their safety. It is a NEED, and she needs help. She's the only one who is taking care of her mother while doing everything. I don't remember her asking her for help in such a big way before, but she is now, because this is a NEED. Her mother is older and unable to help her, Alysia is having to be Superwoman and she can't. She's doing everything she can, but she still needs help by people like you. She has a gofundme set up to help her get funds to move. Her goal is $7,500 and she has raised $695 as of writing this post. She understands if people cannot donate, I can't. This is why I am writing this post. If you can't donate, share the gofundme, which I will link below. Even if you do donate, sharing helps.

Alysia's gofundme:

https://gf.me/u/x9ph53

Please, every little bit helps and share the gofundme.

Until next time,

Chloe

'Grey's Anatomy' introduces first deaf doctor

Yep, you're seeing this correctly. First off, if you don't watch this show, it's a medical show that also has a lot of drama. I remember my former roommates in college trying to get me into it back then, but I only got into it about a few years ago. And as someone who is hard of hearing, I am excited about this news. I am always excited about deaf and disability representation in the media. For instance, and this will be another post soon, there is a show I saw a couple of years ago on Netflix that had wonderful deaf representation. Anyways, like I said, that will be a post for another time. Let's get back to the topic at hand.

This deaf doctor is actually deaf... The actress's name is Shoshannah Stern and she is deaf. Although that usually wouldn't be the first thing I post about someone, but, I have included a wikipedia page and an article to confirm and checked her twitter. She is authentic. I do my research. About Shoshannah, I first saw her in Supernatural, but I didn't even know it was her, I do remember her signing though. That's all I will say. I have included her imdb page in this post as well.

Okay, please forgive me, I'm typing like this hasn't even aired yet, but apparently it has and I'm late... again. I'm still gonna write about it because this news makes me happy and excited. Please also note that I have not seen this episode or these episodes, I have too many shows to watch when the TV shows are on that most of them I watch on Netflix or Hulu when the shows are on break and the seasons come on those streaming services during the summer. I will watch 'Grey's Anatomy' this summer. So please, if you read this and want to comment... no spoilers, please.

So, who is this deaf doctor? Her name is Dr. Lauren Riley and she is a Diagnostics Expert, hired by Dr. Andrew DeLuca, a regular at Grey's Sloan. The way she is described, I love her already and I haven't seen the first episode yet. Stern made her debut on February 13^th and will play in multiple episodes. She is best known for her role on 'Supernatural' and 'This Close', which she co-created. According to the article, I think Grey's did a good thing, I'm not sure they do everything right, but I think this time they did. They not only worked with her, but with other deaf doctors to make sure what they were doing was accurate. She is the first deaf doctor on 'Grey's Anatomy' and one of the few deaf doctors in TV history.

We need more disability representation in TV and movies, authentic ones. There have been some good ones, including this one, but there are very few, I think. Or maybe they're finally coming out with more and more and I'm just missing the news about them.

I am gonna close out with some words from Shoshannah Stern:

“If it’s not authentic, then it’s not disability representation,” Stern previously told The Mighty, adding: “You lose an opportunity there to educate. You lose opportunities for people to learn how it is to communicate with a person, how it is to make the set accessible, etc. So all of that is lost. The person is just playing the role that they could take off — it’s almost like a costume that they could take off at the end of the day — and disability is not a costume.” - Quoted from The Mighty

“It was important to me that rather than Dr. Riley overcoming this insurmountable obstacle of deafness in order to be great at her job, her being deaf actually made her better at what she did,” Stern told ET. She continued: “Deaf people have already been deaf for a very long time, so they’ve got this. In reality, it’s the other people around them who struggle because they’re like, ‘Oh, OK, I have no experience communicating with this person in this particular way.’ That’s what the new experience actually is, and I think we got to show that in a very organic way.” - Quoted from ET (from The Mighty article)

Until next time, God Bless

- Chloe

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshannah_Stern

https://popculture.com/tv-shows/2020/02/13/greys-anatomy-actress-shoshannah-stern-talks-playing-history-making-deaf-character/

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0998074/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

https://themighty.com/2020/02/shoshannah-stern-first-deaf-doctor-greys-anatomy/

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/greys-anatomy-break-barriers-featuring-1st-deaf-doctor/story?id=68961632

Let's talk about Self-Care

It's a new year, and this year, I am gonna try to do some self-care strategies. You know, just take care of myself when my mental health is suffering. It's kinda like how you would take care of yourself when you are physically sick, you should take care of yourself when you are mentally unwell. It's important to do something for yourself often.

I will be honest, my mood has not been the greatest. I take medications for my moods and I recently had a change. I'm not as mentally well as I should be, so right now, I am doing a little something that makes me feel better. I am watching an old show that is still my favorite. It happens to be on Hulu, so I am watching all the seasons for a second time.

I have included a list of self-care activities, but they are not all of them, I don't think. For instance, one of my coping strategies for when I am really down is to keep my mind distracted, and sometimes, playing videogames help. You never see that option on any of the lists.

Here's the things I do whenever I need to distract myself or practice self-care:

(not necessarily in this order)

Pray

Journal

Watch TV/Youtube

Play a videogame

Take a nap

Call a friend

Note: Playing a videogame may not be relaxing to you, but it may be relaxing to some people. There are some relaxing videogames out there. For me, the most relaxing videogame is the one I play the most, and it is one of the Sims Games.

And like I said, I have included a list of self-care activities for you to try if you ever need to, or if you already do some of these things and they work for you, then that is great! If you found something else that helps that is not on this list, then that is great too! Self-care is important. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health.

Until next time, God Bless

- Chloe

Source:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shyness-is-nice/201403/seven-types-self-care-activities-coping-stress

Happy New Year (and Decade) 2020!!!

It's a new year and not only that, it's a new decade! 💗

I got this image off of google images, this image is Image by Annalise Batista at Pixabay.com... because I don't want to be subject to copyright, I am sharing her profile.

https://pixabay.com/users/annaliseart-7089643/

I am sorry I did not update after February of last year. I had this family emergency and it lasted longer than I thought. Then, things around the house kept going wrong and I had to help take care of that. I also could not use my laptop for 1-2 months because of a battery issue. So, after all that, I kinda lost all motivation, and then I got busy over the holidays, like I usually am.

Speaking of the holidays, I hope everyone had a great one, whichever holiday you celebrate. Maybe you don't celebrate at all, I don't know. Regardless, I hope you had a great holiday season.

Anyways, with all that said. I don't make many resolutions or goals, and I don't have many wants, but I do have a goal, and it's to volunteer. I went halfway towards that goal last year. Now, I have to go all the way. Also, I want to get closer with God by praying and reading the bible. I didn't do that very well last year. I also want to update this blog more often. The reason I didn't last year is because of the reasons I stated above. I will try to do better.

Until next time, God Bless

~ Chloe

Emojis for people with Disabilities coming soon!

So, emojis... how many people use emojis on a daily basis? I don't... okay, maybe I do, sometimes. There are some people who do, on a daily basis. There are many emojis to choose from already from a simple smiley face to... well, many things. There are many different faces. There are 'people' emojis and 'hand' emojis. There are even animals, plants, buildings, electronics, etc... There was even a movie with emojis in it!

I remember back then, the emojis would be simple, text-based emojis, like: :) or :( or <3. Now, we have so many colorful emojis to choose from. My favorite has always been the heart.

Last year, Apple made a proposal, a submission, to the Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Consortium is an organization that reviews requests for new emoji characters. In a recent article, it had been stated that they have been approved and we will be getting them in the second half of this year. Yay!

There will be 230 new emojis in this update. The characters include hearing aids, white canes, and guide dogs. This is not mentioned, but I also see a prosthetic arm and leg, wheelchairs (both electric and manual), and a person who looks like they are signing deaf. This is only a very tiny fraction of what we would see in the update.

There are other new images that are gonna be included, meaning not all of them are disability related. One of them is the “period” emoji. The emoji will look like a drop of blood. It is meant to give women a new way to talk about menstruation.

Anyways, I want to know what you think of the new emojis. I personally do not use that many emojis, I only have a select few that I do use. So, I do not have an opinion on this other than the fact that I am happy about this for those who use emojis to express themselves. 

I guess that's it for now.

Until next time, God Bless.

~ Chloe (^_^)

Sources:

(From 2018)

http://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-43526392

https://gizmodo.com/apple-proposes-first-accessibility-emoji-including-gui-1824032988

(From 2019)

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47144091

Hello...

Happy New Year!!! Wait... It's already February!? Well then...

Hello, how are you? I know, I failed last year at updating every month and I know I already missed January, but I want to try to update once a month, maybe twice or more if I have the inspiration.

Earlier this month, I got an email saying that there would be some changes. Google is ending Google+. I think this largely affects Youtube, but there are some changes that would need to happen with Blogger if you incorporated some Google+ features into your blog, that is, if you are a blogger. This is also a problem for both Youtubers and Bloggers alike if they've used Google+ to gain readers/viewers. I personally have never used Google+, but this is just information in case others have used it in some way.

This post will be a little short, but then again, this is the shortest month of the year, so... Anyways, bad joke aside, I want to know if you have a Youtube channel, whether you are a Youtuber or just someone who watches Youtube, how this change has affected you. I also want to know if you have a blog on here, on blogger, how this change has affected you. I don't think this has affected me personally. I never incorporated any Google+ features here on blogger and I never really got any readers from my account. I think I did have an account, but I never really did anything with that account. I also only watch Youtube, I am not a Youtuber nor do I plan to be one. So, it has not affected me there either. I prefer to just write. I'm a writer at heart.

Until next time, God Bless.

~ Chloe

Let's talk about Allison Mack

I wanted to talk about this because my blog is based around one of her beloved characters, Chloe Sullivan from Smallville. Well, when I first made this blog, I kinda based it around Chloe Sullivan and what she stood for, hence the reason why this blog is called Watchtower, which was her moniker in Smallville.

Months ago, I had heard about something that I thought was so crazy that it had to be a rumor. Yes, I thought it was a rumor back then. I did not want to think that a person who played my favorite character of all time would be involved in something like this. Now, I don't think it's a rumor. I think it is a shame, though, that she was into something like this.

Allison Mack is supposedly a part of a cult called NXIVM. The leader of the cult, Keith Raniere was supposedly her mentor. She was arrested along with Keith and could face 15 years to life. Allison pleaded not guilty and was released to her parents on bail for $5 million dollars. I am not gonna get into all of the details about what I know because I am not here to talk about that. I'm here to talk about Chloe Sullivan.

As you may know, and as I just mentioned above, Chloe Sullivan is a character from Smallville. She, the character, is Clark Kent's best friend through the whole series. I admired Chloe, I looked up to Chloe. It may seem silly to look up to a fictional character, but in all honesty, I had no one else to look up to when I was younger. And as you can see here, sometimes, looking up to real people can be disappointing. All I can say is, good thing I did not look up to Allison Mack as a person. I just looked up to her character. I still do. I said this on my personal Facebook, the actors/actresses are not responsible for their characters, the writers are.

I'm not completely ignorant about what happened. I do think about it sometimes. But, I also think about the times that Chloe Sullivan gave me something to hang onto. Chloe Sullivan was the reason why I kept watching Smallville, and me wanting to know what happened next for my favorite characters outweighed my own problems. It gave me a reason to live. She (Chloe) gave me a reason to live.

Chloe was (and still is) important to me. To me, Allison Mack and Chloe Sullivan are two different identities. Allison may end up being guilty, but it doesn't change who Chloe is at all. So, for those who still read this blog, I'm keeping it around, since this is based on the character, not the actual person that played the character.

Sources:

http://deadline.com/2018/04/allison-mack-arrested-sex-trafficking-smallville-actress-1202373240/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/smallville-actress-allison-mack-freed-parents-5-million-bail-n868701