rdfreak

I can join the club for original subject lines, but "too bad, so sad" as they say; Think I mentioned in here, that that modern saying makes me laugh!
OK now off the track, i'm hoping my aGL account is sorted out once and for all. Just called them for the third time to say the reason why my account is overdue is because my invoices are still not coming to me in braille as I'd requested and was told was there two times previous. So apparently it's all organized now.
I'm now getting all my centrelink documents sent to me in braille now, so yeah for that! -- Accessability for the win! -- I don't want to harp on about it but, yeah!
OK I slept in til 10.45 this morning; that is just so strange. I'd been awake earlier but couldn't keep my eyes open enough to want to get up, even though I did want too if that makes any sense.
Yesterday was productive as I'm always saying about woodwork lately, but it was and it was cool!
The glu was dry of course so I then got an object (nameless cos I've forgotten what it's called; another email to brett I guess) to try and shave the hard bits of excess glu off the wood. Then I put it through the wide belt sander about eight times on each side to totally smooth out the wood so it full on felt like it was one bit of timber except for the fact the ends were still uneven.
After morning tea, Brett showed us all how to use the pannel saw, and told us unlike the other machines we've learnt so far, this will prob take quite a while to learn as there's so much more to it; it's a huuuge bit of machinery; it does rip and cross cuts. So I then squared the ends of my board with it; i think i will feel confident with it before long though, as I have with everything else so far. So there I was with a 421 by 265 slab of timber (the talking tape measure of course gave me that final figure).
In the afo, Brett got me to practice with using the thicknesser which was good as I had forgotten a few things. He doesn't mind explaining again though since he pointed out it's likely we'll sometimes forget as we've only been in there for one day a week for only five of them for five hours only.
We had some Vision Australia photographers come around and take photos of us using the machinery with our written consent of course; so I'm wondering if they'll be used tomorrow at the expo! :)
Then we finished up basically. The boards should get finished in a few weeks; naturally it's a slow process with a group of us, all at different stages depending on if someone has been away for the week etc.
So, i'm continuing to love this class! I'll def do level 2, even though we're still not long into level 1! :)
Chelle and I then went out for Greek again last night, and I have plenty in my fridge left over, yeah! :)
OK off to watch the Doc soon (Dr. phil that is), and have brunch; what a lazy day, total contrast from yesterday, tomorrow and prob the weekend. :)
Til Next time, RdFreak

I haven't played an audio game in ages, but i should, since I have so many high quality ones! I love audio games, and there's only a couple I've ever mannaged to complete on the easy level.
But through taking a read of a former LJ friends LJ (Lou's to be exact), i stumbled across this great audio game called Q9! -- The demo version enabled us to play the first two levels; I successfully completed the first, not the second yet but I decided I would buy the game to unlock it! The music and the quality of the sounds are just magnificent! -- So I now have three side scrollers in my growing game collection. -- we are just so lucky to have such great quality games being made for us; I've never taken that fact for granted. I think, when it comes to gaming, we are honestly just as well-off as the sighted folk. it is clear that these game programmers believe in blind people having their share of fun, Lol (that sounds cheesy probably but it's true! :)
I'm so glad I was introduced to this game because, it's been ages since I've been to any game sites. And as I say, I haven't even clicked on any of the games on my puter for a while; wow I've now got heaps of them, mostly bought, some freebies.
Now I can't remember how I've tagged my audio games in the past, but I really need to take some time and clean up my tags as some of them were never meant to be created and others are kinda inconsistent.
I've already gone back a number of times to the beginning of my LJ and have tagged entries (since the tagging system wasn't available in 2003), but I still have a bit to go as I've recently added a few more tags; how confusing!
So off i go to play this game again. :)
til next time, RdFreak

Well, I just feel like i've been shot down. Just called the good help desk at Vision Australia, and was told that Miob isn't accessable with jaws at all. :( Should have told him about that guy who obviously just fobbed me off yesterday by trying to tell me the later versions were, or maybe they are and Nick didn't know about them. At any rate, Nick said the only accounting program that is accessable is cash management, so guess will mention that, as well as being told that the later version of Miob is. On a more positive note though, while I was talking to Proo last night, she just casually asked me if I was thinking of taking my netbook? I said that I was thinking of taking a demo version of jaws on a CD and then I could demonstrate it if the interviewers agreed to it. Might still do that, but the netbook is a brilliant idea because obviously Jaws is already on there. only disadvantage to relying on that is the keys are too small so I'd usually use a USB keyboard but that's huge. I need a smaller bluetooth one methinks; christmas is coming hey!
Ah well, I can only do my best and I'll be as confident as I can be; that's definitely my aim.
Til Next time, RdFreak
P.S. 30 plus comments on facebook, replies on twitter and Livejournal; I've got such lovely friends and acquaintance's. :)

Well yes I have had a couple of very full-on days, tiring but lovely.
Tuesday morning was the usual group with Emilie. I had fun socializing over lunch, and I even got to see J for a few mins Lol!
I then made my way to Kooyong where I voted using the telephone system. I still prefer the computer system; much much easier to have everything in front of me at my instant demand, not that the people minded repeating, but I've just always hated trying to work verbally with someone. -- Anyway that's a job I don't have to worry about Saturday.
I then went to the cafe and ordered a sandwich for dinner later and waited for rB to show up, which he did, followed shortly by John and P M. -- We then just waited around for our room to open, ate dinner, set up the audio equipment (though I didn't do much of anything this time), and had the AGM. Highlight was the food of course! Pau and chris did a lovely job of dishing out the food, sandwiches, keish, sausage rolls and Carrot cake! -- Chris gave me a lift home, but fortunately it's more in his way than before as he's now in Ringwood.
Wednesday I went to woodwork which was great as usual, though unfortunately a little less productive as Brett got a few interuptions. I did use the Wide Belt Sander to sand all my timber down, then Brett helped me with gluing them all together -- if I had to do it myself, I certainly could; it's just very messy. We then had them in metal clamps to dry.
Bret then got me to set up the drop-saw at a certain measurement just to keep my practice up which is a good idea, as I do forget bits and pieces from week to week sometimes, not too much but a little.
In the afternoon, bret started to show Richard and I the pannel saw but that's when he kept getting interupted so a lot of it was just standing around. But I know how to set it up for different cuts; I'm just yet to learn how to actually cut. Lol. So looking forward to next week. -- Also looking forward very much to bringing Dad into have a look at how the workshop is set up.
Michelle (who was able to start the metal work class yesterday) and i then went out to a lovely Greek restaurant in Heidalberg for dinner. As we were too early, we went into the pub and had a hot chocolate and just chatted until dinner was due to start at the other one; then we just walked over. it was a lovely meal; in fact, as I couldn't eat all mine, i took mine home. we'd even shared the meal and it was still way too much! It was my first time at a Greek restaurant and I will def go back there. Chelle had been there a number of times.
And I really ought to do some job applications. -- Think I'm meeting up with Chelle at Boxhill this afo, (if it's not raining too much i guess).
Til Next time, RdFreak

So over the past two weeks when using Metro, I haven't had any problems at all; it's all been smooth sailing. I've changed at Melb central and life has been good there. :)
Yesterday I started my woodwork course at assist. I think I will enjoy it much more this time around and get much more out of it. Unlike last time, the trainer is very good and not condescending in any way as I perceived my prior one to be.
Tuesday was also quite productive as usual. I'm building my confidence with calling up about jobs with the help of emilie. Spoke to one person from Tru Energy, and although they had nothing suited to me, she complimented me on the fact that I called up. She said it shows how keen I am which is of course a good thing.
I have a few other leads for work experience placements so that's positive!
Then I went to Kooyong for the Computer Users Group. There were problems with the new audio mixer; I'm now starting to get discouraged with it all. I don't know why it can't be simple.
Jim P came and showed us his iPad. I was having a play with it before the meeting and he joked that he hoped there'd still be enough battery life for the demonstration by the time I'd finished with it, Lol! -- of course, I'm not going to rush out and buy one as I made the mistake of doing with the iPhone, but it was pretty impressive; still, I got the same negative vibe with the touch screen. He also had a little Bluetooth apple keyboard which he can type text into; it's sooo cute! :)
John M has also put together audio archives of most of the meetings of when the branch began in 1988. Unfortunately only a few recordings were lost; but it's such a good history! Quite a number of members from back then have since passed on which will make this even more special! They're $10 each for the club. -- John presented these copies really well. He and his wife had five DVDs and one CD (containing the minutes and annual reports) in soft CD covers inside a paper folder; nicely done.
I copied them all to my puter last night and started listening to the first couple in 88 where Bill Jolley was chairman. Back then, we only have highlights rather than the entire meeting. -- I love history and audio archives so I will have so much fun listening to these.
Heartly went home Monday. Joy is just continuing to amaze me with her work. And the workshop was freezing yesterday (no heaters though I think they plan to rectify this soon) and Joy didn't complain at all; I did though. It felt a lot warmer after lunch though thank god!
Oh, it was Heartly's birthday Tuesday and I had forgotten to come on and mention it before I left; She's 12 now! Happy birthday to my darling Heartly and I hope she has many more years! Joy myself and family love her heaps!
Think that's about all I had to mention. -- It's fast approaching my LJ's seventh birthday! Everything happens in July!
Til Next time, RdFreak

I forgot to mention, I'm applying for a grant to get an ID Mate summit; squeeee! -- This will be so useful, and I'm not just saying it this time. I found out the hard way I don't like the KNFB reader; But I tried one of these things out several times, including in perth as K and A have one and it will just be so useful; no more getting labels out and recording on the penfriend which can be time consuming.
luckily I fit the criteria for a grant since I currently don't work, live alone and only have light perception. Yeah! Because it's a grant, he's not sure when exactly I'll be likely to get one but hopefully it's soon!
Til Next time, RdFreak

Well since 2003 I've had this LJ and pretty much shared all my protected entries with everyone on my friends list. I didn't mind doing this at first, and largely, i still don't, but for obvious reasons, it began being obvious that I should really set up some filters in the LJ. But I could never seem to get there with jaws. Heaps of my other blind friends could mannage it, but i just couldn't/didn't have the patience. So, I asked on blindpeople and someone replied that the mobile version of LJ made it quite easy to set filters up; it takes a while cos one has to type each person into a group manually, but i thought I'd try it, and, it worked! :) yeah! There's still not a lot of filters here because quite simply, if I didn't trust anyone currently, I wouldn't have them on my friends list. But, they're there if/when I need em.
Til Next time, RdFreak

OK I've been playing around extensively with the music composer of the eureka, and I know pretty much how to work it all now; it's sooo much damn fun! I played ecosaes and mannaged to save it to disc. first it wouldn't work but then I reformatted the disc using the option and it seemed to like that! I am now playing eligro (all from me old zizuki days! :) it's cool because I know how to do repeats and rests. and I also know how to change the tempo and key sig! it's just awesome! yeah for the chatty manual!
I decided I want one. Originally I was going to buy SE's from him for 500 but was rightly told it was way too expensive, so I will aim to see what happens. I might see if RB wants to get rid of his (since the only thing he uses it for is the time at our work now - that's how i knew he had one :) I'll think of something. I mean who knows, chances are I'll get it, play with it for a few weeks then forget about it but then, the music composer is quite unique and I like it just for that!
I had a bit of trouble with it though as i went into mode and can no longer get it to echo letters. I finally fixed it but it still won't echo when it's set on grade 2 braille, only grade one or 0, so who knows!
and the speech is a real bitch to understand! I can't for the life of me work a lot of things out! thank god speech synths have gotten better!
anyway I was planning to record my ecosaes masterpeace but I guess I'll do it later when I unplug it from power!
the batery is a bit dead though! hardly have it unplugged for long and it complains it needs charging.
anyway this is just soo cool! it sounds so awesome when I play the chords and everything! And I just simply arrow up and down the notes; I don't have to varify with speech what note I'm on cos of my pitch!
man I love it!
it's labour day! and I get paid for being home! yeah
Had a bit of a talk to a few of the Brits on ventrilo before; only my damn mic was too loud! can never win! I use to be way too quiet when I had those dodgy sound cards, now too loud. it works well on skype still though.
til next time, rdFreak

I created my first skypecast, but it's only for Melbournians so I hastled melbournemaniac . so far, nothing but that's OK. I just wanted to see how it worked that's all. and I tried by calling my own cast and I see a web page pops up with mute buttons and stuff.
maybe I should have a neighbours cast or something.
I spent a while going through all the skypecasts in the directory and most of them are other languages and jaws won't even read the links.
I'm just bored. I am feeling pretty crampy today and I slept the worst off before.
Chris called at 11 last night, drunk off his nut! He was actually accusing me of some really really disturbing crap (which i'd rather not write down for memory purposes) so who knows what was in his drunk little head. After trying to tell him I have no idea what he's talking about, i said that I was going to go and bye, then I left the phone off the hook. freak! and of course he'd not gunna remember anything about it! ah well!
til next time, RdFreak

wow wow wow! record for me I think! don't think I've ever been this long without writing in here. I have just simply not been bothered writing in here. Life is busy, and I get home and am so tired! I still come on the Net but can never be bothered writing. But I am catching up on LJs (at the moment, it is missmojorisins' at the moment. Yes, because I haven't been able to go through my friends page that much any more, I go to individual journals a lot and catch up that way.
But, I think I can say I have settled in quite well now. I have made plenty of friends - in fact everyone in our class is kinda close and we all seem to get along with each other quite well.
I have been so suprised at how everyone has responded to me this year compared with other years. but as I've told a couple of people, think it's because I haven't been relying on anyone to like "take me places", etc. I still stick to myself during class breaks and lunch breaks. I go to the canteen and mostly am by myself. Most of my friends go out but I just preferr to stay in campus cos by the time ya go sit down at a CAFE or something, it's time to get back!
I still haven't got in touch with the DLO yet, and for a while it didn't bother me, but now it's starting to pieve me off! I mean they are under-staffed but it's not our problem! Too bad if I had a booklist this year! as it happens I don't, fortunately! else I'd be real mad! Well Tertiary consultant J at RVIB is on the case so between us maybe I'll hear from them!
It's a month til my birthday! I can't wait! there's only two weeks til holidays after this, three til easter and four til my birthday/party. Am having it on the same day. I figured a 25th is just a *must! this will be the last one for a while though! It's gunna be huge - bigger than last year. I am kinda worried about how everyone will fit in here; I thought last year was a stretch! But I keep making new friends! If only I'd stop ... not! Nah I love em; they all rock my sexy sweaty socks (as I've been saying for a while now :)
Oh yeah, damn I forgot (and I just got reminded as my batery alarm on my phone gave me a message). My Talks phone is great! though my next bill will be huge as SMS's were kinda flying, but I have calmed down a little! I am not sure when I'll ever get to pay Nan back but will try as soon as I can! I feel like the SMS'ing clan now; it's great! :)
I have been doing a lot of confessing to my class! Basically everyone knows all about me now! The majority of us are doing the issue of "gay marridge" for this assignment in Public Life and so L interviewed me and that's how I got widely known! Lol but it's been great!
I am so tired! Hardly slept last night cos I have a sore throat! Hope I'm not gettin a cold! at least I have the day off tomorrow. I love Wednesdays off! It's just the best day to have off.
I called Mum and dad before in NewZealand. They're staying with Uncle D and aunt S. Dad gets back thursday and a will pick him up.
Right am seriously thinking about bed soon but will write more tomorrow.
Til Next Time, RdFreak