chelseajmunoz

In the last blog entry that I'd written Sunday I forgot to mention that the friend who I'd been watching A Series Of Unfortunate Events with finished watching that particular show with me sometime within the last few days. And said show ended on a cliff-hanger. So hopefully there's going to be another season of that particular show at some point. That evening said friend and I also watched the second Harry Potter movie together. And said friend told me he wants to keep watching the Harry Potter movies with me. Although I don't think I wrote in my blog about whether I'd figured out exactly which Harry Potter movies I was missing. But it turned out that I was missing the 6th Harry Potter movie as well as the second part of the 7th Harry Potter movie. Monday morning I received an email from the guy at AIRA who I'd tried to get in touch with a while back. In the email that he'd sent me he asked what my week was like so that he and I could set up a time to talk with one another. I have yet to respond to his email though. After I'd read his email I called my primary insurance company to ask said business whether said business paid for its members to have access to transportation to doctor's appointments. And the lady I spoke with at my primary insurance company told me that said business does pay for its members to have free access to transportation that takes those members to his or her doctor's appointments. And when I say that my primary insurance company pays for its members to have free transportation to his or her doctor's appointments what I mean is that if I'm able to have access to such a service I wouldn't pay out of my own pocket to get to and from doctor's appointments. So anyway the lady I spoke with at my primary insurance company also told me that it's a bit of a process for members of said insurance plan to get access to that particular benefit. According to the lady I spoke with I'd have to have a doctor write a prescription saying that it's necessary for me to take advantage of that particular benefit. But from that point I forgot to ask the lady from my primary insurance company whether my doctor's office would be able to fax the prescription to said insurance company or whether there was another way for my primary insurance company to receive that particular paperwork from my doctor's office. A while after I'd gotten off the phone with that particular lady from my primary insurance company I received an email at my school email account that was from the Financial Aid Department at the college I'm going to be attending. In the email that I'd received from the Financial Aid Department at the college I'm going to be attending I was informed that my financial aid status had been updated. So I texted a sighted friend of mine to ask him if he'd log onto my school account and give me the verdict. A little while later said friend texted me with the amount of money that I was awarded by the college as well as the amount of money that financial aid would pay for my schooling. A little while after I'd read that particular text from said sighted friend of mine who'd looked at that information for me I texted said friend to ask if he was able to read what my remaining balance was on my school account. He said that he was unable to see if I had a remaining balance on my school account or not. So after I'd read said text message from him I logged onto my school account myself to see if I could figure out whether I had a remaining balance on said account. It turned out that I couldn't find anything that told me that information either so hopefully said information will get cleared up somehow. After I'd logged onto my school account in the hopes I'd get answers for money-related things as it relates to school the friend whose place I'd been hanging out at gave me a printed copy of the wheelchair justification that I'd written for my upcoming doctor's appointment. That made me very happy because I'd have the paper in my hands now rather than only having said wheelchair justification on my laptop. Shortly after said friend had given me the printed copy of the wheelchair justification he downloaded the other Harry Potter movie that I'm missing. The thing is though that he hasn't given me either of the Harry Potter movies that I'm missing because he wants to figure out an easy way to get those movies onto my laptop if possible. And right after he'd downloaded the second Harry Potter movie. that I'm missing he tried to airdrop both Harry Potter movies to me using his older Mac. And I'm not sure if the Airdrop feature on his older Mac has become inaccessible to screen reader users or whether he's going to have to play around with things some more...but as things stand right now I'm still missing two Harry Potter movies. Throughout the day I watched more of season two of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix using my phone. Early yesterday morning I woke up from having a dream about an uncle that used to be married to my favorite aunt who was on my mom's side of the family. In the dream I had I'd gotten back in touch with said uncle somehow. And said uncle ended up telling me that my cousins who were my favorite aunt's kids were druggies just like my mom had told me they were in real life. That was all that I remembered in that particular dream though. Although I woke up from said dream trying to remember what said uncle's phone number was in real life. Then it dawned on me that there's a reason (or multiple reasons) why I've chosen to go full no-contact with everyone on either side of my family. And it then dawned on me that I can continue to remember who I'd thought that every single one of those people were versus how every single one of those people actually are in real life. It dawned on me that there's absolutely no reason why I can't hold onto those memories while living in the present and continuing to live my truth outwardly. Once I'd woken up from that particular dream for good I received a phone call from my doctor's office. The lady I spoke with at that particular doctor's office wanted to confirm my next day appointment. So I told the lady that I'd definitely be there then. Shortly after I'd gotten off the phone with that particular lady at my doctor's office I received an email from someone at Bookshare. In the particular email that I'd received from someone at Bookshare I was informed that The Gift Of Fear (the book that I'd reported to said business a while back as having multiple errors in it) had been fixed. Although I've yet to decide whether I want to re-read said book or not. Shortly after I'd read that particular email from someone at Bookshare I watched the rest of 13 Reasons Why. And throughout that particular show my opinion and love for the show never changed. And by the end of said show I came away really and truly feeling that the show's main character Hannah was my best friend...could be anyone that I'm close to...because no matter how well a person thinks that he or she knows someone, people may not tell us the truth because they are too scared to do so. I'm soooooo grateful that Netflix realized the seriousness of suicide and therefore said company wanted to create a show that would bring awareness to suicide...but not only did the show bring awareness to suicide, in my opinion the show accurately portrayed how society does not often take people's cries for help seriously. And I hope with all my heart that people continue to have healthy conversations with one another about suicide on a regular basis. Because if even one person who's suicidal comes to understand that he or she is truly valued and that he or she truly has valuable things to offer the world then the show 13 Reasons Why will have done a wonderful thing. Shortly after I'd watched season two of 13 Reasons Why in its entirety I texted the NFB friend of mine who'd said that he'd write a letter to my VRC justifying to him why it would be helpful that he continues to pay for my AIRA subscription. In that particular text message that I'd sent said NFB friend I asked him how said letter to my VRC was coming along. A while later I watched the latest episode of Once Upon A Time. And while I was in the middle of watching Once Upon A Time the NFB friend that I'd texted earlier in the day texted me back. But I didn't want to pause Once Upon A Time so I didn't read his text message until after that particular episode of Once Upon A Time had ended. And according to the text message that he'd sent me he's still working on the letter he's writing to my VRC. And interestingly this particular episode of Once Upon A Time was my absolute favorite episode of the entire show. The reason that particular episode of Once Upon A Time was my favorite episode of said show was because there was an awesome lesbian scene where one of the show's lesbian characters asked her girlfriend's dad if he'd give her permission to marry his daughter. Thankfully he said "yes" to that all-important question. But unfortunately there was no further indication of what was going to happen with the happy couple. I'm just glad that a show I loved watching included LGBT-related scenes and LGBT-related real life scenarios. I think including both of those things into shows that people enjoy is crucial for the world to continue to move forward in treating LGBT-related life happenings as just an acceptable and normal part of life. That evening was the last time that I'd be at my friend's apartment because he won't be living there much longer. And honestly it was bitter-sweet for me to be there for the last night because his place was nice and cozy, not to mention that his place was close to my doctor's office which was awesome. So anyway throughout the day I watched a reality TV show called Catfish The TV Show. That particular show has been showing on Music Television (MTV) for 6 seasons now. And that particular show is a show that doesn't require any brain power for people to watch it. And I love that, especially now at a time where I have a lot of time on my hands. LOL. And honestly in watching some episodes of Catfish The TV Show I can have empathy for the people who are the catfish. Because as someone whose been through numerous traumatic events myself it's understandable why people catfish other people. And before I go any further I want to say that I'm not justifying people who catfish. I think it's fucked up that people catfish other people because the people who catfish don't think through the fact that they're going to end up hurting a ton of people. For example if the catfish comes from a broken home or has otherwise experienced numerous traumatic events throughout his or her life it is unsurprising that said person might take steps to try and become someone different than who he or she really is. I mean, I went through a phase in my life where I wanted to change my full name because all I could keep thinking about was that I wanted to get away from my mom's side of the family in every single way that I could. However when I found out that legally changing my name would cost me $500 I changed my mind real quick. And I ultimately decided to keep my current last name. Because when I really thought about what it would mean to legally change my name I realized that making that particular move wouldn't change the shit that I'd been through. And to this day I've never thought about legally changing my name anymore. Later that night I treated my friend and I to Starbucks because his birthday is coming up later in the week. And said friend and I had a whole conversation with one another about whether he wanted me to pay for dinner or coffee as a treat for him. The reason I say that the two of us had a big discussion with one another about it was because my friend knows that money is tight for me. However I told him that I used to live life feeling miserable because money was tight...and for that reason I never did anything to treat myself. And I also told him that I'm not going to worry about my money situation the way I used to worry about it because that is another reason that I was stressed out all the time. And in making this recent move to a new state I've decided that I'm no longer going to worry about my financial situation. I'm just going to live life having fun while still making sure that my rent gets paid every month. Thankfully he understood where I was coming from and he said he'd like to go to Starbucks. I'd thought that Tuesdays and Thursdays were when happy hour was at Starbucks. However when my friend and I'd arrived at a Starbucks the guy who'd taken my order informed me that I was wrong. According to him happy hour at Starbucks is only on Thursdays. But I still purchased Starbucks coffee for my friend and I. I'd initially tried to use the Starbucks app that's on my phone to order our coffees ahead of time. However I was unable to order our coffees ahead of time because I didn't have any money on my Starbucks rewards card nor did I have things set up on the Starbucks app where I could pay for Starbucks items using my bank's quick-pay feature. So I paid for my friend and I's Starbucks items using my bank card. And unfortunately when my friend and I'd first gotten in the car with our Uber driver I realized that said Uber driver was a fast driver...which activated my motion sickness immediately. And I felt so awful, even once my friend and I'd arrived at his apartment, that I put my Starbucks coffee in his refrigerator for the rest of the night. And when I woke up this morning I got ready for my doctor's appointment. I made sure that I took my coffee with me when I left my friend's apartment because I knew that drinking said drink would be a nice treat. And indeed it was! Fortunately my friend carried my drink and backpack out to the Uber driver's car for me. But that particular Uber driver that I'd had barely understood English. She even seemed not to understand me when I'd asked for her help making sure that I got into my doctor's office building correctly. So that particular thing was incredibly frustrating because as a totally blind person it's crucial that my Uber drivers know how to verbally communicate with me. So anyway once the Uber driver I'd had arrived at my destination and I was inside of the doctor's office, I told said Uber driver that she could leave. However she ended up trying to lead me to a chair inside of the doctor's office building...and I told her that I needed to go to the counter to check in first. She didn't seem to understand my words and then someone sighted motioned to her that I needed to go to the front of the doctor's office building before I sat down. And fortunately I successfully got to where I needed to go. And when I got to the counter someone from my doctor's office staff told me that I'd need to provide all of my information to said business again because said business had started using a new computer system since the first time that I'd gone to said clinic. So anyway I provided a staff member at the clinic with my information then I waited until after 9:00 in the morning to be called by someone to go to the back of the clinic. And that was interesting because I'd arrived at the clinic at 8:10 in the morning to be seen by someone at 8:30. Yet I didn't actually get called back until after 9:00 in the morning. But once I'd been called to the back of the clinic I met with a lady I'm guessing was the MA. And I shared with her that I had a few other concerns besides getting my annual female check-up taken care of. And I told her that I needed for said clinic to write a prescription for me so that my primary insurance company would pay for me to have medically-related transportation paid for. And she then told me that my primary insurance company would have to fax a particular form to my doctor's office and then my doctor's office would fax said form back to my primary insurance company. After she and I'd finished having that particular discussion with one another I told her that I'd need the doctor to write a prescription for my primary insurance company to pay for a certain kind of wheelchair for me. And when I say that it took a lot of advocating on my part to get that particular MA and Nurse Practitioner to help me with the two things that I'd told them about, I mean that I had to push both of them. And I had to push both of them hard as fuck! I told both of them that I'm getting ready to start attending college, that I'm on SSI and that I'm currently renting a room in a family's house. I wanted it to be totally clear to the two of them that I didn't have money to pay for transportation costs. And fortunately the two ladies finally caved in and said that they'd work on my wheelchair situation as well as that they'd fill out the form from my primary insurance company that would allow me to have medically-related transportation paid for. And after I'd gotten those two important things out of the way, the doctor performed my annual female check-up. And before I'd finished with her she made sure to tell me that if I wanted to get an earlier follow-up appointment with my Primary Care Physician (PCP) I could ask a lady up front what was available. So I did just that: I told a lady up front that I currently have a follow-up appointment scheduled with my PCP for June 12. But I asked her to check whether she had anything available sooner. And fortunately she did. I was able to get a follow-up appointment scheduled with my PCP on June 7 at 10:00 in the morning. That's going to be a hell of a lot better than 8-something in the morning. LOL. And fortunately I didn't have to wait long for an Uber driver to pick me up from my doctor's office. And interestingly on the drive to what I'd thought was my house it turned out that since I'd used the Uber option where I may share rides with other people the Uber driver I'd had picked up my friend at his apartment. So he and I unexpectedly got to see each other for a little bit which was an awesome surprise. And after the Uber driver had dropped off my friend at school, said Uber driver dropped me off at my place. Once I'd made it to my room I unpacked my heavy backpack. Then I set up most of my electronics where I'd like them to be. And shortly after I'd gotten that taken care of I contacted Uber to make them aware of what had happened earlier in the day with regards to my Uber driver not understanding or speaking English. I'm not sure if that particular business is going to respond to the message I'd sent them. I'm just glad that I let them know what a crappy experience I'd had with said Uber driver. I then called my primary insurance company. The lady I spoke with at that particular business was not helpful in resolving the transportation issue as I'd hoped she'd be. Yet she did give me a phone number to the county I live in. So once I'd gotten off the phone with a lady from my primary insurance company I called the county number that I'd been given. The lady I spoke with at that particular business told me that I hadn't called the correct place. I was then told that I'd need to contact the SSA to resolve the transportation coverage issue. However upon looking at the numbers in my phone for the SSA's contact card, that particular number that I'd just called was a local SSA office. So the only thing I can think of is that the second lady I'd spoken with meant that I should contact the SSA at their 800 number. God I hope that I don't keep getting the run-around with this. It's already at the point of being ridiculous.

I've been forgetting to mention that within the last week or so VO stopped turning on at the log-on screen of my MacBook Pro. So I'd gone into the settings and selected users and groups then my current username and then log-in options. VO used to let blind people select a checkbox that said "Turn VO on at the log-on screen" or something to that affect. However I guess with the last Mac OS update or so VO doesn't let blind people select that particular option anymore. That's incredibly frustrating for me because I don't like having to turn VO on myself every fucking time I turn on my computer. So hopefully once I get my AIRA replacement equipment I'll be able to use an AIRA agent to make VO come on as soon as my MacBook Pro turns on. In the last blog entry that I'd written yesterday I also forgot to mention that earlier in the week when I'd gone to the college I'm going to be attending I used my $3 off of a Starbucks item. I'd gotten that particular gift from T-Mobile a while back. And I vividly remember receiving said item from T-Mobile because I'm a T-Mobile customer. Shortly after I'd written my last blog entry yesterday I called an Uber to take me to CVS Pharmacy to pick up my medication. Fortunately I didn't have to wait long for an Uber driver to arrive at my house. And fortunately the Uber driver that I'd had was someone that I've had a few times before that I've enjoyed having. On the way to my destination I received a phone call. However I didn't answer the call because in case it was something personal I didn't want to broadcast my business for other people to hear. Once that particular Uber driver had gotten me to my destination he walked me inside the building. In some ways I don't mind it when people want to be helpful but in other ways I do mind it when people want to be helpful...because more often than not those people's helpfulness is unnecessary. I'm blind, I have a physical disability in addition to my blindness...and I'm human too. Anyway once that particular Uber driver I'd had walked me inside the building he pointed me in the direction of the pharmacy. He then commented on the fact that I look confident in myself when I walk places which made me feel great because sometimes I think I suck at cane travel. The reason I think I suck at cane travel is because when I had brain surgery a few years ago I had to relearn how to do most things all over again (from learning how to sit up, to learning how to construct sentences, to learning how to remember details of conversations I'd had with people ETC). And after I'd had that particular brain surgery (my first brain surgery as an adult) I thought that said surgery really fucked up my ability to travel on my own confidently and safely. I've often beat myself up about this particular thing until today. Today is the day that I'm going to start feeling confident and safe when I walk places. I'm going to start focusing on the here and now rather than dwelling on something that I can't change. Because the past should stay there, in the past! So anyway once I'd found the pharmacy inside of CVS Pharmacy yesterday a lady at the counter said she'd help me with whatever I needed. So I told her my name and that I was there to pick up a certain medication. She grabbed my medication for me right away then I asked if she'd tell me how to know where I was supposed to start popping out the medications. Because the medications that I'm used to taking came in a 90 day supply. And the medication that I'm going to be starting today is only a 28 day supply. And since the lady who'd rang up my medication couldn't help me she had the pharmacist tell me what I wanted to know. I even had the pharmacist put a paper clip at the top of my medication. That way I'd be able to distinguish the top of the medication packet from the bottom of the medication packet without having to ask someone sighted which was which every time I have to take that particular medication. Once I'd finished my business with the pharmacist I asked if an employee would help me to the front of the building. Fortunately someone did and I called an Uber right away. The particular Uber driver that I'd had then though was one of my least favorite Uber drivers I've ever had. However I was unable to give said Uber driver a bad rating because she didn't overcharge me the way she's done in the past. And that's great because it gets tiring to report Uber drivers time and time again. A little while after I'd gotten home I listened to the voicemail that someone had left me earlier in the day. Upon listening to the voicemail that someone had left me I realized that my doctor's office was calling me to let me know that the appointment that I'd scheduled for this coming Friday needed to be rescheduled. When I called my doctor's office back though there was a message saying that said doctor's office was closed. I called said doctor's office a few more times and heard the same thing...and said doctor's office was not supposed to be closed at the times that I'd called. Shortly after I'd given up on my doctor's office for the day I re-read the email from AIRA that I'd been sent earlier in the week. And upon re-reading said email from AIRA I went ahead and signed up for AIRA's forum where I'd be able to talk to other AIRA explorers. A little while after I'd signed up for AIRA's forum I was approved on the forum. Although I must admit that I feel kind of weird about having registered with a forum nowadays because I feel like technology has advanced far beyond forums. This morning I read an email that was from the AIRA forum which I thought was neat. After I'd read that particular email I called my doctor's office in the hopes that I could speak with someone to reschedule my appointment that was supposed to take place this coming Friday afternoon. Whenever I call said doctor's office I'd always wait on hold for quite a while. This time was no exception. When I was finally able to talk with someone though the lady I spoke with scheduled for me to go to the doctor's office on the 23rd of this month at 8:something in the morning. Because I'd told her that I wanted an appointment in the morning so I got a morning appointment like I'd asked for. LOL. Before I got off the phone with that particular lady from the doctor's office though I told her about the situation regarding me wanting a prescription to be written for either of my insurance plans to pay for me to have a certain kind of wheelchair. The lady insisted that I'd have to physically come into the doctor's office so that a provider could physically see me with his or her own eyes. And I get that because there are a lot of people who take advantage of the system...so this doctor's office wants to make sure that that sort of thing doesn't happen. Plus no one at this particular doctor's office knows me yet and I get that side of things too. The lady I spoke with told me that next time I'm at the doctor's office I could get set up with said doctor's online portal. However my hope is that I won't have to waste my time with said portal at the next doctor's office visit because in my experience with these sorts of things, online portals for medical use are not accessible to blind people. I had several doctors when I lived in San Antonio who were big fans of online portals...and I could never use those online portals because they were never accessible with my screen readers on my phone or my computer. So when I say that I hope I won't have to hassle with an online portal the next time I go to the doctor's office what I mean is that I hope there is an alternative method for me to email someone at the doctor's office the information for the particular wheelchair that I'm requesting. Like, once I'm in the physical presence of the doctor maybe he or she will let me email him or her the necessary information so that I can make sure I get the exact wheelchair that will meet my needs. Shortly after I'd gotten off the phone with someone at the doctor's office I told Alexa to play the Backstreet Boys. And she did exactly as I'd told her to. I then texted one of my NFB friends that's in the same state that I'm in. In the text message that I'd sent said friend I asked him if he knew how to create forum posts through email on AIRA's forum. Because clearly there's a way to do that, given that an AIRA forum post that someone had submitted through email went to my email inbox. A little while later I emailed AIRA support with the question I had about AIRA's forum. Shortly after I'd sent that particular email to AIRA's support staff I received a text from the NFB friend of mine that I'd texted earlier. In the text he'd sent me he said that he isn't very active on AIRA's forums so he didn't know the answer to that question. I then sent said NFB friend another text to ask him whether there was anyone within the NFB who'd sponsor someone like me to continue using AIRA once my free trial is up. A little while later I received an email from someone at AIRA's support team. In the email that I'd been sent by AIRA's support team the person who'd contacted me gave me the email address to use to post new discussions to AIRA's forum. I then replied to that person's email to clarify things a bit more. Because I wanted to make sure I understood the process completely. So in the email reply that I'd sent to the person from AIRA's support team I asked him or her if I could reply to someone's forum post by replying to the actual email that contained said forum post. A few minutes later the person from AIRA's support team emailed me again. This time he or she said that I'd completely understood the process of replying to a forum post that someone else had created. Throughout the morning/afternoon I kept asking Alexa to "stop" because I eventually became tired of hearing the Backstreet Boys. However upon me giving her that particular command all she'd do is say "Hmmmmmm, something went wrong" or "I don't know what went wrong." She said variations of both of those things for the longest time...then she'd keep right on playing the Backstreet Boys!! It was the weirdest thing. Gotta love technology when it works as it wants to rather than as you want it to. LOL. A little while later I created a calendar event on my phone of my upcoming doctor's appointment. For some reason though when I told Siri to title said event "Annual female check-up" what Siri heard was "Annual female chicken." I have no earthly idea how Siri heard the word "chicken" rather than the word "check-up." Because to my mind neither chicken nor check-up sound alike. LOL. A little while after I'd input my upcoming doctor's appointment into my phone's calendar I received a text from the NFB friend that I'd texted throughout the day. In that particular text message that he'd sent me he told me that I could ask my VRC to pay for AIRA for me. I then sent a text message to said friend telling him that my VRC has already stated that he'd pay for AIRA for me. My VRC just doesn't know I have AiRA yet because I'm waiting to tell him until I can experience AIRA as it's meant to be experienced. Said NFB friend that I'd texted back and forth with throughout the day then texted me a link to a scholarship that I could apply for. And as soon as I saw that I'd been texted that particular link I applied for said scholarship. A while later I texted a local friend of mine to ask him if he'd come by my house sometime soon to help me put my box fan in a more desirable place. In the same text message that I'd sent said friend I also asked said friend if he'd help me reposition where the shower water hits me when I'm in the shower. Because as things stand right now the shower water hits me right in the face and I can't avoid it. So whenever I'm going to shampoo my hair I turn the shower water off because that's the only way for me to solve this particular problem. A little while later I texted the same friend to ask him if he'd print out the justification for me having a Hemi wheelchair if I emailed said justification to him. I also prepared myself though for the chance that said friend may not print what I'd asked him to either because he doesn't pay attention to his text messages or because he flat out forgets. It's frustrating for me to ask said friend to do things for me because if I'm not there to remind him to help me he'll more than likely forget to do so. And usually when I ask him to do stuff I really need him to do whatever said thing happens to be. Then I worked on rewriting that particular justification because said justification needed to be slightly edited to include all the information that my doctor's office would need. So the wheelchair justification now reads as follows: "To Whom It May Concern: it has been recommended by numerous professionals that I have my own Hemi wheelchair as an assistive device that would help increase my independence. I would use this wheelchair to sit down and complete tasks such as sweeping, mopping and cooking—since my Cerebral Palsy makes me get tired on my feet very easily, it is not possible for me to mop, sweep or cook while standing. Having a hemi wheelchair would allow me to sit down while I mop, sweep, fold clothes, cook, ETC. Having a wheelchair for these tasks would increase my independence a great deal—I would be able to complete these basic tasks on my own instead of having to rely on someone else to complete those tasks for me. The reason I am requesting this specific wheelchair is because the hemi wheelchair is designed to sit lower to the ground than other wheelchairs. Sitting lower to the ground makes it easy for me to propel the wheelchair using my feet and allows me to move around rooms and hallways easily. Again, I want to emphasize that this wheelchair will not be for permanent use; rather, the wheelchair will be used as an assistive device that will greatly enhance my quality-of-life. The size of Hemi wheelchair that I need is size 16. The Hemi wheelchair can be found at the following link: http://www.roscoemedical.com Thank you for your time and attention to this matter."

In the last blog entry that I'd written Saturday I forgot to mention that Friday I'd sent an email to the lady who'd done my AT evaluation. In the email that I'd sent her I made sure to tell her about the health conditions that I have so that she could justify why I'm going to need certain AT. In another email that I'd sent her that same day I made sure that she had all of the necessary information for said equipment as well. It was a good thing that I'd saved all of the emails that I'd sent and received at WSB because those emails are really going to come in handy in terms of helping me get the AT I need to be most successful. In the last blog entry that I'd written Saturday I also forgot to mention that that same day when I'd spoken with the second AIRA agent I was able to have said AIRA agent read the mail to me that I'd recently received. The only disappointment was that she read said mail through my phone's camera since using the AIRA glasses is not an option right now. However I was still glad that I'd had her read my mail because it turned out that I'd received my insurance card for my secondary insurance plan which I definitely need to have. In the last blog entry that I'd written Saturday I also forgot to mention that at the house I rent a room in there's a water filter attached to the fridge that has cold water in it. That makes me soooooooo happy because I can just reuse my water bottles by filling them with cold water from the water filter at home. At least I won't have to pay for water!! It really is the little things like this that make me happy. A little while after I'd written my last blog entry Saturday I exchanged several FB messages with the guy who's working on my website. In the FB messages that he and I'd exchanged with one another I'd asked him whether I could put tags in my blog entries. I explained to him in the FB messages I'd sent him that the reason I was wondering about that particular thing was because if possible I wanted to make it easy for people to search my blog/website for tags that would lead people to a specific thing. Like, I wanted people to be able to search my tags for the phrase "AIRA experiences" and find every blog entry that I talk about my experiences with AIRA. However upon adding a tag to my last blog entry and explaining my idea to the guy who's helping me with my website I learned that my idea is not easy to incorporate into an actual website. So I ended up telling the guy who's helping me with my website that I didn't want him to have to put in tons of work just so that I could have tags on my website/blog. Throughout the time I'd exchanged FB messages with the guy who's helping me with my website I also exchanged FB messages with a guy who was a student at WSB at the same time that I was a student at WSB. This guy though is really creepy but when I was at WSB I didn't feel comfortable enough with myself and with saying "no." So instead I'd just talk to this guy whenever he sought me out while inwardly hoping that he'd eventually leave me the fuck alone. Well I didn't let him know that I'd changed my phone number so didn't communicate with him for a year. Until tonight that is...and only because he'd messaged me on FB. He sucks at conversation though so it didn't take him long to ask me one of the weirdest questions ever which is "What do you think of me?" I decided that I'd give him an honest answer this time. So I replied to the FB message he'd sent me saying "You creep me out to be honest. I just didn't have the confidence to tell you that last year but now I do." He then sent me an FB message asking me to tell him how he creeps me out. Shortly after I'd finished exchanging FB messages with the creepy guy and the guy who's helping me make my website I went into the kitchen to get myself some dinner. And my landlord and his wife were talking about guests of theirs that had just left the house. My landlord was saying that one of the guests had asked him if his tenant was blind. But according to him the way said guest had asked that particular question was like she couldn't believe that a blind person could actually be a functional adult. My landlord and his wife treat me as an equal so the two of them were surprised at the reaction of one of their guests regarding the fact that their tenant was blind. To me though the way that particular guest of theirs reacted to them having a blind tenant was not surprising because I get that exact reaction from people a lot. Said reaction does annoy me though for sure. Yesterday morning I emailed the president of NFB's student association as well as the lady from the NFB that I'd sent my NFB membership dues to. In the email that I'd sent those two people I asked whether the lady from the NFB has received my check. A little while after I'd sent that particular email to some NFB people within my state I called Uber to take me to CVS Pharmacy. Upon arriving at CVS Pharmacy the Uber driver that I'd had told me that there was not a drive-thru at that particular CVS Pharmacy. However that particular Uber driver walked me inside CVS Pharmacy's building. And once I'd gotten to the pharmacy counter I told the Uber driver that he could leave so that he wouldn't miss out on getting more Uber trips for himself. Then I told the lady at the pharmacy counter that I had all of my updated insurance cards and gave her each insurance card to scan into CVS Pharmacy's system. Once that was done I called an Uber to pick me up. I then asked a CVS Pharmacy employee if someone would help me to the front of the store. And fortunately a CVS Pharmacy employee was kind enough to do so. As the CVS Pharmacy employee and I walked to the front of the store with one another I asked said employee if she'd mind getting me a bag that had handles on it. Because the bag that the lady at the pharmacy had given me didn't have any handles on it...and in this state usually people have to pay for bags. But fortunately the lady was able to get me a bag that had handles on it. After I'd gotten a bag with handles from the CVS Pharmacy employee my Uber ride arrived. I went straight home because I didn't want to end up paying a lot of money to go anywhere else. A while after I'd come home from CVS Pharmacy I received an FB message from MR. Creepy saying "hey." I wrote a well thought-out response to Mr. Creepy that reads as follows: "You are just creepy. You try too hard to get people to like you and your desperation shows. If you would just be yourself, whatever that is, you may find that you are able to build successful relationships. Also, think about things that you could talk about with people. If you find out that you have a common interest with somebody then talk about that with them. I'm not a fan of people just saying 'hey' because that leads nowhere. Like I said, if we have things in common or if you're a Facebook friend and realize through things I post that we have things in common...that's fine...but to my knowledge you and I have no common interests/topics that we like to discuss. So communication from here on out is pointless. I wish you well in life though." Some time after I'd sent Creepy Guy that particular FB message I texted the local NFB group that I've mentioned in my blog before. In the text messages that I'd sent that particular group I ran my idea by the group members about starting a trauma support group within the NFB. Many people seemed to like my idea. I really hope that said idea pans out soon because I think having such a group within the NFB is not only necessary but having such a group within the NFB will also change people's lives for the better. A while after I'd texted back and forth with those particular group members I went to a friend's apartment to hang out with said friend. I took my AIRA equipment with me because I wanted to show my friend exactly how AIRA works. On the way to my friend's apartment though the Uber driver I'd had was what I'd consider weird. What I mean in saying that that particular Uber driver was weird is that said Uber driver asked me if I go to church. Of course I told him that I don't go to church and he replied with "Well you should go to church. You would love it. The Lord healed me and he could heal you too." I didn't say anything to that asshole but I was certainly thinking "You don't fucking know me and what I'd like. You also wrongfully assume that I'd want to get rid of my disabilities if I could...when I probably get around far better as a disabled person than you ever would." I hate, hate, hate when people make assumptions like that. They are not trying their best. They are being idiotic, presumptuous and rude. That kind of thing annoys me to no end. Throughout the day yesterday Mr. Creepy continued to send me FB messages after I'd sent my last FB message to him...so I blocked him on FB as well as on FB messenger. I refuse to make time for people who don't respect the boundaries that I set with him or her. I used to let people like Mr. Creepy walk all over me but that crap stops now. This morning I received a call from my VRC. During his and my conversation with one another he asked how things had gone for me on Thursday regarding my AT assessment. So I filled him in on everything and he seemed happy to know that everything went great. Another thing that he and I'd talked about during our conversation with one another though was the fact that one of the items I'd requested to have my VRC purchase for me is a wheelchair. Because I have an incredibly hard time doing things like folding clothes, taking out trash, bringing groceries inside the house ETC due to my CP. So I told my VRC that when I was at WSB last year I was introduced to a specific kind of wheelchair that I was able to use regularly...and being able to use that particular wheelchair greatly increased my independence. So I told my VRC about how that particular wheelchair would change my life in numerous ways and he told me that it would be a long process for him to get said wheelchair for me. So he suggested that I check with my primary insurance company first to find out whether that particular business would meet those particular needs of mine. So once I'd gotten off the phone with my VRC I called my primary insurance company. I told the lady I spoke with at said business exactly what I needed and she told me that my primary insurance company would pay for me to have a wheelchair. She then told me that I'd need a doctor to write a prescription for said wheelchair and from there my doctor would have to find a company to purchase the wheelchair from. Shortly after I'd gotten off the phone with a lady from my primary insurance company I called my doctor to try and speak with someone about the prescription that I needed my doctor to write for me. However I ended up leaving a voicemail at my doctor's office because no one answered. Shortly afterwards I went to the college I'm going to be attending. More specifically I went to the college's transcripts office as well as the college's financial aid department. On the way to college though AIRA called me. However since I was not in a position to answer said phone call I let the call go to voicemail. Anyway when going to the college I'm going to be attending I went to the college's transcripts office first so that someone could scan my high school transcripts into the college's system. Fortunately a lady who was at the transcripts office was kind enough to scan my transcripts right then. And once she'd scanned my high school transcripts into the college's system I went to the college's financial aid department. I met with the lady I'd last communicated with through email and it turns out that that particular lady was the director of the financial aid department as a whole. She was able to process my financial aid information right then. She also told me that I should receive something in the mail that would give me three different options for how I want my financial aid payments to get to me. I made sure to tell her that I'd already filled out a FAFSA application for the fall semester of college and she immediately told me that things should be easy regarding financial aid in the fall semester of college. I'm sure she knows what she's doing. She seems like she knows her stuff. Once I'd finished everything with her I left the college and came home. After I'd settled in at home I read my emails. It turned out that I'd received an email from the lady who I'd sent my NFB membership dues to. In the email that she'd sent me she let me know that she'd received my membership fee. After I'd read that particular email from her I called AIRA tech support to follow up with that particular business about the technical problems that I'd been having with the glasses. The man that I spoke with was very helpful. It turned out that my MiFi was completely dead which the AIRA technical support guy figured out by having me plug in the MiFi as if I was going to charge said device. And I had the glasses on when I'd plugged in and turned on the MyFi. That way I'd be able to hear the glasses say "Wi-Fi connected" or whatever. Except instead of saying "Wi-Fi connected" the glasses said "no data." "No data" meant that the MiFi had been reset back to its factory settings which was quite frustrating to say the least. But the good that came out of me calling AIRA tech support was that the guy I spoke with informed me that since I'm in AIRA's system I'll receive the new Horizon Glasses when those particular glasses are released. And the fabulous thing about the Horizon Glasses is that they will eliminate the need for the MiFi completely. Although I don't remember the specifics of it, like whether there will be a docking station to charge the glasses on or whether there will be an entirely different method for charging the glasses. I'll have to read up on that particular thing because I want to make sure I'm clear on it. But anyway during my conversation with the AIRA tech support guy I was also informed that he'd have a replacement of all my AIRA equipment sent out to me. He also said that he'd send a return shipping label so that I wouldn't have to pay to send the AIRA equipment back that I already have. So the conversation I had with him was productive. Shortly after I'd gotten off the phone with the AIRA technical support guy I wrote the following frustrated FB post that reads as follows: "So last night I had an Uber driver who asked if I go to church. I told him that I don’t go to church and that I hate church, personally. He said that I should go to church because the Lord healed him…and he could heal me too. But that Uber driver did not for one second stop to think about the fact that I wouldn’t want to be healed. He sees disabilities and automatically sees human beings with disabilities as “defective.” That sort of thing annoys me to no end because I’m 30 years old. I’ve been multipli-disabled for that long…and I would bet that I get around far better as a multipli-disabled person than that asshole ever would. It’s as though people forget how to use their brain…and that what they visibly see in a human being from the get-go is what they are going to go off of. I hate when people push church on others, especially when they don’t know me or what I would like. Religion is not what makes the world beautiful, nor is religion what makes people worthy in life. What makes people worthy in life is that they are good human beings who care about the world and want to do their part to make the world a better place." Shortly after I'd created that particular FB status update I texted the NFB membership committee. And in the text that I'd sent that particular committee I stated that I'm really eager to start being an outlet for people to share their stories about traumas they've been through or traumas that they are going through. So I gave said group this particular blog link since it's what I have right now. And shortly after I'd sent that particular text message to NFB's membership committee I found the email that I'd sent someone at WSB when I was a student at that particular training center. In the particular email that I'd saved in the WSB folder inside of my personal email account I'd written a justification for one of my then doctors to prescribe this particular wheelchair for me that I've mentioned in my blog. I wanted to keep the justification for said wheelchair in my blog though in case other people would like to use it as an example. Or if there are people who are unsure how a blind person advocates for things that he or she needs, the below justification letter will illustrate how this is done. The justification letter reads as follows: "It has been recommended by both my cooking instructor as well as my mobility instructor that I have my own Hemi wheelchair as an assistive device that would help increase my independence. I would use this wheelchair to sit down and complete tasks such as sweeping, mopping and cooking—since my Cerebral Palsy makes me get tired on my feet very easily, it is not possible for me to mop, sweep or cook while standing. Having a hemi wheelchair would allow me to sit down while I mop, sweep, fold clothes, cook, ETC. Having a wheelchair for these tasks would increase my independence a great deal—I would be able to complete these basic tasks on my own instead of having to rely on someone else to complete those tasks for me. The reason I am requesting this specific wheelchair is because the hemi wheelchair is designed to sit lower to the ground than other wheelchairs. Sitting lower to the ground makes it easy for me to propel the wheelchair using my feet and allows me to move around rooms and hallways easily. Again, I just want to state that this wheelchair will not be for permanent use; rather, the wheelchair will be used as an assistive device that will increase my independence."

In the last blog entry that I'd written yesterday I forgot to mention that when I'd gone through the mail that I'd recently received this past weekend I'd received something from the post office saying that my address change had gone through just fine. However I was too impatient at the time to actually read exactly what my address had been changed to. In the last blog entry that I'd written yesterday I also forgot to mention that Monday I felt like being nosy and looking into whether my stepdad Abel still had his own clinic so I looked up what I'd thought said clinic's name was. And when I'd searched for what I'd thought said clinic's name was I didn't find my stepdad's clinic under said name. However I did find that my stepdad's clinic's name had been changed which I thought was interesting. And upon discovering that my stepdad's clinic's name had changed I browsed the clinic's new website. And upon reading the biography that's on my stepdad's clinic's website I discovered that my stepdad's biography said something like "Dr. Munoz loves spending time with his kids and wife." Reading that particular thing made me feel angry in a way because it was confirmation that he doesn't hold me out as one of his kids. And to be honest I'm fine with that. I don't want anything from him nor do I want his family to know anything about me. At the same time though reading that my stepdad doesn't hold me out as one of his kids gave me the closure I've longed to have for years. Like, there's absolutely no reason now that I have to think about my mom and her side of the family ever again. It feels good to finally have that closure. In the last blog entry that I'd written yesterday I also forgot to mention that ever since I've been in contact with local NFB people in the state I live in I've felt really happy. Like, it feels wonderful to know that the things I want to happen for myself are happening now...even though at times it seems like things are moving slowly to me. So in discussing that things are moving along in my life one thing I also want to mention is that I've asked the president of the statewide NFB to look into if there are any NFB chapters near where I currently live. And he's looked into that for me but unfortunately there are no NFB chapters close enough to me that I could go to such meetings on a regular basis. So instead what I'm probably going to do is participate in conference calls that are held by an NFB chapter that's in the same state as I am. That way I'll be able to be an active NFB member in the way that I want to be. Early yesterday morning I woke up from having a weird dream about some family members on my dad's side of the family. In the dream I'd had, one of my aunts on my dad's side of the family had gotten divorced and become a lesbian. In that particular dream I also remember that one of my cousins on my dad's side of the family told me that she wasn't getting married to the guy she'd dated for years because he'd left her for someone else. In that same dream I also remember that my older female cousin had told me that one of my male cousins on my dad's side of the family was no longer Christian and that that particular cousin was labeled by my dad's side of the family as being weird because he no longer followed in that side of the family's footsteps where religion was concerned. Those are all the details that I remember from having that particular dream. And maybe me having that particular dream was simply my brain trying to process the truth: that I'm no longer in contact with anyone on my dad's side of the family. And come to think of it I haven't had any awful dreams about my mom and her side of the family for a while which is great. I hope this positive pattern continues as well as that said positive pattern spills over into the weird dreams about my dad's side of the family eventually going away completely. When I woke up for good yesterday morning I checked the T-Mobile Tuesdays app as I've always done since I've had that particular app. And fortunately that particular time of me checking said app was great because I claimed a gift where T-Mobile pays for $3 of my next Starbucks beverage or item at Starbucks. Shortly after I'd redeemed that particular gift from T-Mobile I looked up YouTube videos. As I was looking up various YouTube videos I accidentally turned VO's speech off...and I didn't know how to turn VO's speech back on. So I texted back and forth with a friend of mine who's also a Mac user and fortunately he was able to help me get VO's speech back by telling me to double-tap on the Mac's trackpad with three of my fingers. I wouldn't have known about that particular gesture because when I learned how to use the Mac when I was a student at World Services for the Blind (WSB) I didn't learn how to use the Mac's trackpad. Needless to say I'm glad that I'd thought to ask this particular friend for help with this particular Mac issue. Shortly after I'd gotten that particular Mack issue resolved I received an email from Amazon Music saying that my Amazon Music Unlimited subscription had been canceled. Getting that particular email was weird because I'd thought that I'd taken care of said subscription before its cancelation. Obviously I didn't though since I'd received that particular email notification from Amazon Music Unlimited. So once I'd seen that particular email I logged onto Amazon's website to renew my Amazon Music Unlimited subscription. Then I told alexa to "enable Amazon Music Unlimited" and that was the step that I'd forgotten to do last time. And once Alexa had enabled Amazon Music Unlimited then I was good to go. Shortly after I'd taken care of that particular thing I called the number that I'd thought was the cab company's number that's scheduled to pick me up at my place on Thursday morning. Unfortunately though I'd dialed the wrong number. So after I'd disconnected from that particular phone call I sent an email to my VRC asking him if he'd provide the cab company's number to me in an email. A little while after I'd sent that particular email to my VRC I received an email from him that contained the cab company's phone number. A little while after I'd read that particular email from my VRC I entered the cab company's phone number into my phone's contacts so that I wouldn't have to ask my VRC what the number was anymore. And shortly after I'd added that particular cab company's number to my phone's contacts I called that particular cab company. I asked the lady I spoke with at said business to check whether a trip had been scheduled for me to use said cab company Thursday. Fortunately the lady I spoke with said that the trip had been scheduled for me successfully. Shortly after I'd gotten off the phone with that particular lady I emailed my VRC to let him know that my trip was all set up for Thursday. After I'd sent said email to my VRC I downloaded the Starbucks app onto my phone. I also signed up with a Starbucks Rewards Card since I go to Starbucks quite a bit. I even tried to add the balance of the Starbucks gift that I'd claimed from T-Mobile to my Starbucks Rewards Card. But unfortunately I was unable to add the $3 to my Starbucks Rewards Card either because VO didn't read me some text or because it is not possible to add money to a Starbucks card when said money comes from a gift card that's from another company. A while after I'd played around with the Starbucks app for a bit I went through the mail that I'd received. It turned out that I'd received my high school transcripts. Shortly after I'd put my high school transcripts in my backpack a friend of mine helped me pack my things so that I'd be ready to go to the place I currently rent a room from the following day. Fortunately it didn't take the two of us too long to pack my stuff. This morning my friend asked me if I was going to go to school with him since I'd received my high school transcripts the previous day. However I told him that I thought it would be best for me to wait until I receive my state ID to go to the college I'm going to be attending. Because that way I'll be officially in this state in every sense once I receive my ID. Well actually I still won't be considered a resident of this state until I've lived in said state for a year. But in terms of having all of my documents up-to-date, that part will be taken care of once I receive my state ID card. A little while after I'd told my friend that I wasn't going to go to school with him today someone from the college I'm going to be attending called me. I honestly didn't want to answer the person's phone call because I suspected that the person calling me was someone from the college's financial aid department. And I was right. When I'd answered the college's phone call it turned out that the person calling me was someone from the college's financial aid department. The lady I spoke with wanted to make sure that I knew that the college would not be able to process any of the paperwork that I'd given that particular department until I provided said department with an ID as well as my high school transcripts. So of course I immediately told the lady I spoke with at the college's financial aid department that I'd go to the college with everything that the financial aid department has told me said department needs as soon as I receive my state ID card. A few hours after I'd gotten off the phone with the lady at the college's financial aid department a friend and I gathered all of my things and got ready to leave his apartment. Once we'd called an Uber to come pick the two of us up from his place though the Uber driver who was on her way to pick us up was someone that we'd both had before...that we both could not stand!! So I canceled that trip and waited a few minutes to schedule Uber again in the hopes that I'd get a different Uber driver. However I got the same shitty lady. And as my friend and I were on our way outside I called her to make sure she knew where to go once she'd come into the gait. However right as my friend had put all of my things outside anticipating her arrival she canceled the trip on me. In a way that particular thing frustrated the crap out of me because I had plans and I didn't have a lot of time to dick around. So having to call another Uber driver really messed up how I'd originally planned for my day to go which for a blind person is a huge deal. The reason it's a huge deal for a blind person's plans to switch like that is because as blind people who are independent we have to plan things we do to the minute. Whereas sighted people don't have to plan things in that way because he or she can just get in his or her car and go wherever the hell he or she pleases any time of day or night that he or she wants to. So because I as an independent blind person had already planned out my day from leaving my friend's apartment, to going to the post office to check my mail, to getting the two of us food, to dropping my things off at my place and ultimately going to my doctor's appointment I couldn't change any part of my plans. How I'd planned things to go though didn't happen in the way I'd planned since the first Uber driver that had taken my trip canceled on me. So once another Uber driver had taken my trip and my friend and I'd left his apartment we went straight to the post office. I told my friend that I'd like to put him on the list of people who could check my mail for me just in case I ever need him to do so. When we'd arrived at the post office though I stayed in the Uber vehicle in the hopes that my friend would be able to get my mail quickly. However the post office workers told him that they needed to physically see me in order to put him on the list of people who could check my mail for me. So I went inside of the post office. And right as I'd walked inside the post office's building I realized my friend and I'd be there for a few minutes because said business was packed. When a lady finally called us up to be helped though I told her that I'd like for her to get me my mail as well as that I'd like to put my friend on the list of people who could check my mail for me. She said in a rude tone of voice "Well you know, Chelsea, the last time you were here you decided that you didn't want anyone to be able to check your mail." I replied firmly "Yes, that was what I'd decided then. However I'm telling you now that I'm changing my mind. I want my friend here to be able to check my mail for me if need be." Once I'd told her that, she filled out whatever paperwork needed to be completed for my friend to be a designated mail picker-upper. She then told me that I had mail as well as an actual package which I became super excited about. Once she'd taken care of those things for me she grabbed my mail. Then my friend and I left the post office and went directly to the place I'm renting a room at to drop off all of my things. My friend was able to help me unpack and set up my shower chair which was great. Said friend and I then went through my mail using an app called SeeingAI. Thankfully I didn't have too much mail to go through. I received some things from the insurance company that's no longer my secondary insurance plan so I threw those things in the trash. I also received my state ID card which is awesome. I'm officially legally no longer bound to Texas in any way!! Words cannot even begin to express how happy that makes me. I'd also received some things from the insurance company that I chose to have as my secondary insurance plan but I can't recall exactly what those things were. Oh and the package I'd gotten that I was soooooo excited about? The package I'd gotten was a print phonebook. Who the hell even uses print phonebooks anymore? LOL. How ridiculous! Anyway once my friend and I'd finished sorting through what we could sort of the mail I'd received, the two of us left my place. Our destination? My doctor's appointment. And what a doctor's appointment it was!! LOL. So the Uber driver that my friend and I'd had when the two of us left my place was pretty quiet. That was fine with me because I had a lot of things on my mind. Mostly I was nervous about how my doctor's appointment would go...and as it turned out I had nothing to worry about. So when my friend and I'd arrived at my doctor's office the two of us asked someone for directions to get inside the building. Fortunately the building was easy to find and once we'd gotten inside just to be safe we asked someone to tell us where the line was. Fortunately we found the line quickly and from there we didn't have to wait long for me to be seen. The lady who'd checked me in at the front desk made sure that an employee of the clinic helped me complete the necessary paperwork that was required for me to become a patient at said clinic. Once I'd completed the registration paperwork I had to wait a little while to be seen by a medical assistant. Fortunately though when a medical assistant called my name and asked me to go to the back he also asked whether I'd like to take his arm. And I decided that I would take his arm so that I could move at a quicker pace than I would move if I were just walking with my canes. Before I go any further though the reason that I walk at a slow pace when I'm only using my canes is because the leg braces that I currently wear are painful. Like, for some reason my leg braces dig into my heals...which as you can probably imagine, is far from comfortable. So anyway when I walked to the back of the clinic with a medical assistant I told said medical assistant that I was at the clinic to establish care. And in addition to telling him why I was there he took my vital signs. He informed me that my blood pressure was a little high but I blamed said blood pressure result on the fact I'd been stressed out all day because I'd been moving and on the go for several hours by that point. He understood where I was coming from. And once he'd taken my vital signs I gave him all of my doctors information from my Primary Care Physician (PCP) to my neurologist, to my neurosurgeon, to my OBGYN, to my eye doctor, to the therapists that I used to see. Because each doctor is a part of my story. Each doctor has shaped who I am in one way or another. And I felt and still feel nervous about how my new doctors are going to react to my records from Texas when they receive them. Yet I know that I just have to keep working through my worries in my head because good doctors are there to help their patients. Good doctors do not negatively judge their patients. And when you as a patient have the chance to make a fresh start for yourself as I've done, a fresh start can be incredibly empowering. It sure has been empowering for me. I mean, to be able to sit in a doctor's office today and tell the employees who work at said clinic my whole story, the true story of my life thus far, not only felt freeing but also felt...honest. Like, even though I initially felt awkward about telling the whole truth to people about the abuse and neglect I'd suffered at the hands of my mom and her side of the family, I reminded myself that my truth was just that, MY truth!! But it was like, this whole mental struggle in my head between "Ooh, don't answer these questions that these strangers are asking you about trauma, Chelsea" and "Yes, Chelsea, answer these questions that these people are asking you about trauma because although the trauma you've endured IS NOT you, said trauma IS part of your story, a HUGE part of your story." Obviously the part of my brain that encouraged me to tell MY truth was the part of my brain that won that time. I'm proud of me for that. And because of this recent experience I remain hopeful that the people who are now on my medical team and the people who will be on my medical team in the future will take me seriously all the time. Because as a patient of theirs I don't care about doctor's being friendly and chatty. I want my doctors to value me as the grown adult that I am because I deserve to be treated like the queen that I am. And on that note I'm going to go to bed for the first night in the place I'm renting a room at. I have an early day tomorrow because tomorrow is the day that I'm going to look at all kinds of Assistive Technology (AT). And once I go see the different kinds of AT that are available to me, that visit will determine what kinds of AT I want my state VRC to get for me. And from that point I probably won't write too much about how that particular visit goes until I actually start receiving equipment from my VRC. That way I'll be able to write about things in greater detail. But who knows, something may inspire me to write in great detail about the AT assessment that's being done for me tomorrow.

I've been forgetting to mention that in the game Timecrest that I love to play there are Twitter accounts for a few of the characters in that particular game. So every time I see tweets from any of the Timecrest characters I engage in discussions with said characters. Sometimes I don't always engage in discussions with every single Timecrest character but I love the fact that fans of Timecrest do have the ability to enjoy more fun with said game on a social media platform like Twitter. Perhaps I'm just a nerd though and this kind of thing is lame to every other human. LOL. In the last blog entry that I’d written Thursday I forgot to mention that that Wednesday evening the Uber driver that a friend and I’d had was awesome. Because my friend and I’d wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A (which is one of my favorite fast food places). And the Uber driver that we’d had told us that next to Chick-Fil-A was a Crispy Cream doughnut shop. I then told the Uber driver that she was telling me things that I didn’t want to hear. And she ended up getting my friend and I a doughnut each. And right now at Crispy Cream, that particular business is having a special where they are selling doughnuts that taste exactly like Nutter Butter cookies. So my friend and I both chose to get Nutter Butter doughnuts which were delicious!! The reason I wanted to make sure I wrote about this particular experience with that particular Uber driver is because said Uber driver getting doughnuts for my friend and I was a small gesture...yet said gesture meant so much to my friend and I. In the last blog entry that I’d written Thursday I also forgot to mention that that same Wednesday evening I’d shared the FB status update that I’d created a few days prior regarding my Mac acting weird. The reason that I shared said FB status update again was because I’d tagged a few of my FB friends in the comments to see if anyone would respond to my cry for help. Shortly after I’d written my last blog entry Thursday I called the financial aid department at the college I’m going to be attending. I told the guy I spoke with at the financial aid department what my situation was and he said that he didn’t know the answer to my question about the grant I’d applied for the college to give me. He then transferred me to the Admissions and Records Department. I told the lady I spoke with at that particular department what the situation was. She said that I wouldn’t qualify for the particular grant I’d applied for since I’m not a resident of this particular state. She then told me that I should talk to the cashier’s office about my financial situation and then she transferred me to said department at the college. I told the lady I spoke with at the cashier’s office that I was directed to call her again. Fortunately she was really kind and helpful, unlike the other people I’d talked to in other departments at the college. She suggested that I contact my VRC, tell him to contact the cashier’s office and speak with a certain person in that department. So right after I’d gotten off the phone with that particular lady at the college I’m going to be attending I called my VRC. Unfortunately though I got his voicemail. So I left him a message telling him what the situation was. In that same voicemail I’d left him I also asked if he’d let me know what the transportation arrangements are going to be for next week. Shortly after I’d left my VRC a voicemail I received an email from the lady at the cashier’s office that I’d been speaking with. The email she’d sent me was something that she’d forwarded to me from the other person she’d contacted about my situation. In that particular email that she’d forwarded me I read something that said that my non-resident fee had been paid. In the same email that the lady at the cashier’s office had forwarded me I was also told that my VRC should call the cashier’s office to straighten this situation out. So after I’d read that particular email I immediately replied to said email. In my reply to said email I let the lady from the cashier’s office know that I’d left a message with my VRC informing him to call the cashier’s department at the college I’m going to be attending. I then sent an email to the academic counselor that I’d met with the previous day. In the email that I’d sent her I told her what had happened the previous evening with regards to me not being able to register for English 101 this coming fall. In the same email I’d sent her I also told her that I’d thought that that had happened because I haven’t taken the prerequisite English course yet. In the same email I’d sent her I asked her if there was a way to override what the system says or whether I’d have to wait until I’ve taken the prerequisite English course to register for this other English course. A little while after I’d sent that particular email to the academic counselor at the college I’m going to be attending I logged onto the post office’s website because I wanted to email that particular business to make sure that my address had successfully been changed. However my phone/BlueTooth keyboard was being a pain in the ass (PITA) and would not let me complete said form. And while I was messing with said form I received a call from my VRC. During his and my conversation with one another he told me what time the cab company would pick me up for next week’s appointment to get my AT evaluation done. He then stated that he was unsure why the college I’m going to be attending has been giving me such a hard time regarding payment for this upcoming summer semester. He then told me that he’d talk to someone at the college and find out what was going on. A little while after I’d gotten off the phone with my VRC I received an email from the lady I’d been in touch with from the cashier’s office at the college I’m going to be attending. In the email that she’d sent me she let me know that she’d get in contact with me if she heard any further updates. Shortly after I’d read that particular email from a lady at the college’s cashier’s office I received a phone call from my VRC. During his and my discussion with one another I told him that I’d met with an academic counselor at the college the previous day and that she and I’d created an education plan for me. My VRC asked if I’d forward the newly created education plan to him so I said that I would. I then told him which state university I chose to attend once I’m done with community college...and he seemed hesitant or maybe even surprised at my choice. I say that he seemed either hesitant or surprised at my university choice because there was a loooooooong pause between when I told him what my university choice was and when he replied to said university choice. LOL. Although I honestly don't know why he reacted in such a way because I didn't choose to go to a private university. I then told my VRC about the recent experience I'd had with a lady in the college's financial aid department when I went to said office to deliver some documents. His response to that part of our discussion was "Well those things are just the nature of the beast that is going to college when you're blind. Everyone pawns us on the OSDs at our colleges...and I guess that's their way of not wanting to be held accountable...but we don't question it. We just go with the flow." When he'd said that, I thought to myself "Maybe you personally don't question things of that nature happening but I'm definitely going to make noise about said experience I had as well as any similar experiences that I'll have in the future." Because while there are many blind people in the world who don't want to rock the boat there are also many blind people in the world such as myself who won't hesitate to speak up when we feel we've been mistreated or when someone is ignorant about something that we as a blind person know a lot about. You know, I used to feel sad when I'd encounter blind people who didn't want to rock the boat. Hell I was one of those blind people myself at one time...but there comes a time when it's like, either you advocate for yourself and others or you get left behind. Either way it's each blind person's choice. Now though I don't get sad knowing that there are blind people in the world who don't want to rock the boat because that just means that there's more room for me to make as much fucking noise about things as I want to make!! And there's real power in that sort of thing. My VRC then asked what I was going to do in terms of housing, given that the particular area I want to go to is incredibly expensive. So I told him that I’d rent a room like I’m doing now or that I’d find a roommate to rent a place with. I told him that going either of those routes doesn’t bother me at all. He then told me that what he’d found out when he’d called the college was that the college’s financial aid department was waiting for me to provide my high school transcripts as well as the other documents that hadn’t been processed by financial aid yet. So I told my VRC that this past Monday was when my high school transcripts were mailed to me. He then suggested that I email the lady from the college’s financial aid department to make her aware of that. So that’s just what I did: once I’d gotten off the phone with my VRC I sent an email to the lady at the college’s financial aid department to give her the same update I'd given my VRC. Shortly after I’d sent her that particular email she emailed me back. In the reply email that she’d sent me she brought up the fact that said financial aid department was waiting for my VRC to pay for my school for this upcoming summer term. I replied to her email letting her know that I’d just spoken with my VRC and he’d told me to contact her with my latest update. In the same email that I’d sent her I also told her that I’d go to the financial aid office at the college as soon as I receive my high school transcripts. In the same email I’d sent her I also made sure to let her know that I’d filled out and submitted the additional paperwork that financial aid had asked me to fill out a week or so ago. Shortly after I’d sent her that particular email I forwarded my new education plan to my VRC. At first though when I input my VRC’s email address into the “to” field my school email account would not let me forward said email. So I then typed my personal email address into the “to” field and put my VRC’s email address in the “CC” field. Fortunately said email was forwarded successfully. Shortly after I’d forwarded that particular email to myself and my VRC I received a call from the insurance company that I’d been assigned as a secondary insurance plan. This time though I answered the call because I wanted that particular business to stop calling me. I told the lady I spoke with at that particular insurance company that I was no longer with said insurance company and that I’d appreciate it if said insurance company would quit calling me. She said she’d update the information that was in said insurance company’s system so time will tell if she was telling the truth or not. A little while after I’d gotten off the phone with a lady from the insurance company I did not want as my secondary insurance plan I called the insurance plan that I’d chosen as my secondary insurance plan. I asked the lady that I spoke with from said insurance company if she’d tell me whether I’d been assigned a doctor or whether I’d need to pick a doctor. Upon looking up my information the lady told me that said insurance company had selected a clinic for me to go to. I then asked the lady if the doctor at said clinic was a male or female and she told me that there were both genders at the particular clinic that had been chosen for me. So I’m hoping that once I’m at said clinic I can tell the clinic staff members that I’d like to always see a female doctor when I go there. So once I’d been given that particular information by a lady from my secondary insurance plan I asked her if she knew how long it would take for me to receive information in the mail from said insurance company. She told me that it would take anywhere from 7 to 10 business days for me to receive my secondary insurance card and anything else that said insurance company needs to send me. Once I’d gotten off the phone with a lady from my secondary insurance plan I called the clinic that had been chosen for me. I waited on hold for several minutes which was frustrating as hell. Although once I was actually able to talk to a staff member at the clinic the lady I spoke with was very helpful. I told her that I’d recently been assigned to that particular clinic by my secondary insurance plan and wanted to see if I could schedule an appointment even though I don’t have my secondary insurance card yet. She asked me whether I knew what my secondary insurance plan was so I told her. I also gave her the insurance information that I do currently have available and she created a chart for me right then. Once she’d created a chart for me she asked if I’d be available to go to the clinic this coming Wednesday evening. I told her that would be great. But before I’d gotten off the phone with her though I had her give me the clinic’s address. So after I’d gotten off the phone with her I put said appointment on my calendar. That way I wouldn’t forget about it. A little while after I'd put my upcoming doctor's appointment on my iPhone's calendar I sent an FB message to a friend of mine who's a Mac user. In the FB message that I'd sent him I asked him if he knew how I could resolve the issue that I'd been having with my Mac. A little while after I'd sent said friend that FB message another friend of mine and I went to Starbucks with one another. I wanted to try a new drink at Starbucks so I did. I tried a white mocha frappuccino and said drink was absolutely amazing! What I usually get from Starbucks is a white peppermint mocha frappuccino or a white peppermint mocha which is hot. I've also gotten a white mocha at Starbucks too. I don't usually get different drinks from Starbucks but every once in awhile I just want something different from Starbucks. So anyway when said friend and I'd went through a Starbucks drive-thru the lady who took our order informed us that it was happy hour. I didn't even know that Starbucks had happy hour so making that particular discovery was great, especially because my friend and I got two medium-sized coffees for the price of one medium-sized coffee! After said friend and I'd gotten back from Starbucks I listened to Christina Aguilera's new song "Accelerate" using Alexa. I think Christina Aguilera's new direction of releasing hip-hop music is going to be a refreshing change from the garbage that's currently on mainstream radio. Yesterday morning I woke up at an early hour because my phone rang. So I grabbed my phone and looked at its caller ID. It turned out that the caller was someone from the college I'm going to be attending. However I figured that it was someone from the financial aid department who'd heard the frustrated message I'd left said department the previous day. Once I'd gotten up for good though I checked my school email and discovered that the academic counselor I'd met with earlier in the week had replied to the email I'd sent her the previous day. In the reply email that she'd sent me she informed me that she'd done a temporary override in the school's computer system in the hopes that I'd be able to register for English 101 in the fall. So immediately after I'd read the academic counselor's email I logged onto my school's website and went to the "register and pay" link. Once I'd double-tapped that particular link I entered in the Class Registration Number (CRN) for English 101. When I'd submitted those changes I realized that I still was not registered for that particular class. So I read through the page again and located a popup menu that had the word "none" selected. I then double-tapped said popup menu and found another option that I could select which was "wait list." So I selected the "wait list" option then I replied to the academic counselor's email letting her know what had just happened when I'd attempted to register for English 101 in the fall. While I was logged into my school email account I noticed that I'd received a couple emails that were specifically from the college I'm going to be attending. One of those emails wanted me to complete a survey so that the Counseling Department at the college could know how I felt about those particular services. The other email that I'd received at my school email account was informing me that the school's server had been down for some time today for people who were off-campus. So I guess since I'm receiving other emails from the school now that means that I'm officially a student at that particular college. Cool!! A little while after I'd sent that particular email to the academic counselor I received an FB message from the friend that I'd reached out to the previous day who's a Mac user. In the FB message he'd sent me he told me that I should check in the navigation settings to make sure that my VoiceOver (VO) cursor was not set to follow the mouse. So that's just what I did: I checked the navigation settings as said friend had suggested...and my VO cursor was not set to follow the mouse. However I did stumble on other settings within that same menu that's checkboxes should not have been checked. For example there was one particular checkbox in the navigation settings that said something like "cursor follows keyboard." And that particular checkbox was checked. So I unchecked said checkbox and I'm pretty sure that that's what stopped my Mac from jumping from place to place. Shortly after I'd resolved that particular Mac issue I listened to a playlist that was on Amazon Music where Christina Aguilera talks about some of her favorite songs that she's released as well as some of her favorite songs that other artists have released. Of course how Christina Aguilera has promoted said playlist on her FB though was great. She said something like "This particular playlist is going to be commentary on the new album that I'm going to release soon." So of course because of the way I'd read about that particular album's upcoming release and given what a huge Christina Aguilera fan I am I was hooked upon hearing her promotion of said new album. I listened to the entire playlist and can say that Christina Aguilera's promotion of said playlist definitely did its job. What I mean in saying that that particular playlist did its job is that I'm far more interested in Christina Aguilera's new album release than I was before I'd listened to the playlist that's on Amazon Music...and the crazy thing was that there was only the one song "accelerate" on the playlist that was from her new album. LOL. She's sure doing things right this time around, that's all I can say. A while after I'd listened to Christina Aguilera's recent playlist that's on Amazon Music I went to CVS Pharmacy to pick up my prescription that that particular business had filled for me. While I was there I told the lady who'd helped me that she'd probably need to change my address to my PO box for insurance billing purposes. Surprisingly though she informed me that it didn't matter what my current address was because according to her, CVS Pharmacy had already billed my insurance company. While I was at CVS Pharmacy though I also told the lady who'd helped me that I now have a new secondary insurance plan. I also told her though that I don't have my secondary insurance card yet. So she told me that whenever I receive my secondary insurance card I should bring said insurance card to CVS Pharmacy so that they'll have it on file. This morning I woke up because I heard my school email account alert me that I had an email. So I looked at who the email I'd received was from and it turned out that the academic counselor at the college that I'd met with several times had emailed me. In the reply email she'd sent me she told me that she'd recommend taking myself off of the waiting list for English 101 in the fall because it's a hassle for the student to keep checking the computer every day to see if he or she has been given a code to register for said class. In the same email that she'd sent me she also said that I could definitely register for an English 101 course with no problem because there are tons of those particular classes available at the college I'm going to be attending. So once I'd read the email she'd sent me I logged onto my school's website and dropped that particular English 101 class. Once I'd successfully dropped that particular English 101 class I searched the college's catalogue to find an English 101 class that I could register for without any problems. Fortunately I found one. And once I'd found an English 101 course I registered for that particular course successfully. Yay!!

In the last blog entry that I'd written Saturday I forgot to mention that on Friday night I asked my friend whose keyboard I'd recently been playing with if he still had the song that I'd started creating a week ago. Fortunately he still had that particular song. So on Friday night he and I worked on that particular song with one another which made me happy. In the last blog entry that I'd written Saturday I also forgot to mention that when a blind friend of mine and I'd gone with one another to a sushi restaurant earlier in the week, as soon as the two of us had entered the restaurant a waitress at said restaurant said to us in a tone of voice that suggested we did not know where we were "This is a Japanese restaurant that you are in." My friend and I were both flabbergasted at that particular comment she'd made because being blind does not mean that we don't fucking know where we are. As if that particular comment our waitress had made was not awful enough though, when my fRiend and I were walking out of the restaurant with one another the lady said "Do you want me to help you to your car?" My blind friend said "Yeah sure. I parked right outside." The waitress did not get the joke my friend had made. I thought his joke was hilarious! Shortly after I'd written my last blog entry Saturday I received an FB message from AIRA's CEO. He and I exchanged a few messages with one another and I gave him my contact information. A little while later I texted my landlord to ask him whether the text I'd sent him the night before had gone through. A few minutes later he texted me back asking me whether I'd signed a physical copy of mine and his rental agreement with one another or whether I'd only signed mine and his rental agreement with one another through email. So I immediately responded to his text message telling him that I think I'd only signed a rental agreement through email. A little while later I received a text message from my landlord asking me if I'd come by the house to sign an actual print copy of my rental agreement with him. So a little while later I texted my landlord to say that I'd come by the house the next morning. However a little while after I'd sent that particular text to my landlord I decided to go to his house today. The Uber driver that I'd had on the way to my landlord's house was not that interesting. I honestly wasn't in a mood to have much of a conversation with anyone then so I didn't. Once I'd arrived at my landlord's house though I was glad I'd gone there. He and I both signed copies of the rental agreement that I have with him which was great. That way I wouldn't have to worry about when I could go to his house before this coming Tuesday morning's appointment with a local DMV. A little while after I'd gotten back to a friend's apartment I deleted the remote app off of my phone since my friend had recently found his Apple TV remote. Sunday afternoon I watched the latest episode of Once Upon A Time on the Hulu app that's on my phone. I wish that Once Upon A Time was audio described because there are a lot of visual things that happen in the show that I think I miss out on. The way that I know there are a lot of visual things that go on in Once Upon A Time is because sometimes when there are pauses in the show's dialogue I can hear people moving around and making gestures that indicate to me that those people are doing something. So if Once Upon A Time was audio described then the narrator would inform me of the visual things that happen in said show. A little while after I'd watched Once Upon A Time a friend of mine and I talked with one another about my blog and how far I really want to go with my blog. Said friend told me about EasyBib (a website that I can go to that will help me correctly cite YouTube videos or other websites that I may use in interviews I do with people). Because aside from interviewing AIRA’s CEO for my blog I may have so much fun with that particular interview that I occasionally want to interview other people for my blog. The reason that particular thing came up in my discussion with said friend was because I was telling said friend that I want my blog to be legitimate in every way. So that's why he told me about EasyBib. Shortly after that particular friend and I'd finished discussing EasyBib with one another, the same friend then told me about Huboodle (a new app that has games that people can play on his or her iPhone). Because my friend had recently discovered that particular app for himself. And even when I looked at the “about” section of Huboodle for myself I discovered that said app is brand-new. Like, the current version of that particular app is only the third version of said app. So in some ways it makes sense that Huboodle is so buggy. When I got up yesterday morning I checked my email. It turned out that I'd received an email from someone in TSBVI's records department. In the email that the person from TSBVI's records department had sent me he informed me that my high school transcripts from that particular school would be mailed out to me today. Shortly after I'd read that particular email from someone in TSBVI's records department I started doing my research for my upcoming interview with AIRA's CEO. I watched some YouTube videos then took notes on each YouTube video that I'd watched. That way I wouldn't have to go back to each YouTube video at a later time and try to remember what things I wanted to make note of. After I'd worked on that particular project for a while I replied to the email that the post office headquarters had sent me. In the reply email I’d sent to the post office headquarters I asked that particular business whether my address had successfully been changed with said business. Several hours after I'd emailed the post office headquarters I looked over the questions that I’d come up with for AIRA’s CEO to answer. I then emailed said questions to him. Shortly after I’d emailed the questions to AIRA’s CEO I went through some of the mail that I’d received. It turned out that I’d received things in Braille from this state and/or my insurance company. One of the things that I’d received in the mail from my insurance company/the state was a Braille version of the print application that said companies have been trying to get me to fill out for a while now. Fortunately though the state/my insurance company also sent me Braille versions of a couple different insurance company’s booklets that I’m required to choose as a secondary insurance plan. It was pretty easy for me to make a choice about which insurance company I want to go with for my secondary insurance...because I chose the insurance company that seems to offer the most health coverage. A little while after I’d chosen a secondary insurance company for myself the friend who’d been working on my song with me, worked on my song with me some more. The two of us were killing time with one another because I’d had it in my head that we could register for college classes at midnight the next day. Throughout the day today my Mac has been doing this thing where my cursor constantly jumps from one place to another place. This particular thing has become so problematic that it’s damn near impossible for me to use my Mac right now. So I’m typing this up using my BlueTooth keyboard that’s connected to my iPhone. That being said, I also created a Facebook (FB) status update asking any of my FB friends if they are experiencing the same problem with their Macs as I’m currently experiencing with my Mac. A little while after I’d written an FB status update concerning the issue I’m having with my Mac I tweeted Huboodle. In the tweet I’d sent that particular app I made the app’s people aware of the fact that I’m unable to get past an ad when I try to play any of the games that said app has available on it. Shortly after I’d sent that particular tweet to Huboodle I logged onto my school account thinking I’d be able to register for the summer class that I want to take at the college. However upon logging into my school’s website I read that priority registration was actually not until the following day. After I’d made that particular discovery I went to sleep. This morning I got up early so that I could go to the DMV to get my state ID card. When I’d scheduled my Uber to pick me up at around 7:40, it worked out well. Interestingly though when I was getting into the Uber driver’s car, said Uber driver told me that she was the daughter of the lady who’d driven me to the DMV last Friday. Wow!! LOL. That particular Uber driver was even nice enough to walk me all the way into the DMV...and show me where the line was. Fortunately there were only a few people who were in line in front of me. Then once I’d gotten up to the counter to speak with a DMV employee it turned out that the lady who’d helped me last Friday as well helped me again today. I told her that I’d come back because last time I’d been at the DMV I was told that I needed to have my rental agreement signed by my landlord and I. She understood and once she’d created a ticket for me she showed me to a seat. Not too long after I’d sat down I heard someone say that the DMV’s system had gone down. Just my luck, right? So I sat there for a bit, chatting with a man who was also waiting to be seen by a DMV employee. When the lady who’d helped me came to show me to a window, the DMV employee at that particular window told her that the DMV’s system was down. So no one could process anything. However the DMV employee who was at the window I’d been lead to made an appointment card for me to go to the DMV the following day. The DMV employee then walked me outside to a bench so that I could sit down. It was really windy outside so I zipped up my jacket. I then called an Uber driver to come pick me up from the DMV. However shortly after I’d called the Uber to pick me up the lady who’d helped me at the DMV the previous few times I’d gone there came outside to let me know that the DMV’s system was up again. She asked if I wanted to go inside and get things taken care of and of course I said I did. So I asked her to wait a second while I canceled my ride. Once she’d taken me inside of the DMV building she was able to get someone to help me right away. Fortunately the ID card application I’d filled out last Friday was still in the DMV’s system which only made things slightly easier. Because the lady who was going to process my ID card application still had to scann all of my information (my birth certificate, my legal name change order, my proof of residency and my Social Security card) into the system. Then the lady had to type whatever parts of my ID card application were left, into the system as well. Once the lady had completely entered me into the DMV’s system she took my money for my upcoming ID card. After she’d taken my money for my ID card she tried to do my fingerprint right at her window. However things were not so easy because for some reason her fingerprinting machine was not working correctly. Interestingly though when she’d asked for my right thumb as the thumb that would be fingerprinted I asked her if we could change her machine to take a fingerprint of my left thumb. She said that that shouldn’t be a problem but she ended up having someone show me which part of the DMV to go to, to get fingerprinted and to have my picture taken. Since I’m left-handed I asked the DMV employee doing my fingerprint if he’d allow me to do a left-handed thumb print. He said that would be fine. So once I’d had my fingerprint taken, the same DMV employee took my picture. The particular DMV employee who’d taken my picture and fingerprint then told me that I’d receive my state ID card within two to three weeks. He then had another DMV employee show me outside. I’m hoping that my state ID card will arrive to me before I have to go to the financial aid department at school to give said department my high school transcripts. That way I don’t have to use my Texas ID...and yes I really am that excited to get rid of the last thing that legally binds me to Texas. So anyway once the DMV had helped me to a bench outside of the DMV building I called Uber. When the Uber driver was a minute away I called her to make sure she’d arrived at the right place. When I was on the phone with that particular Uber driver she’d said that she was in the DMV’s parking lot. I then told her that I was blind and that it would be helpful for me if she’d come directly to me. Fortunately she didn’t have a problem coming directly to me. Once she’d dropped me off at my destination I used the Uber app to ask said business for a refund for the trip that I had to cancel earlier in the day. That too was not a problem. Shortly after Uber had credited some money onto my account I called my insurance company. During the conversation I had with my insurance company employee I told her which insurance company I want to have as my secondary insurance plan. She informed me that my primary insurance company had already chosen a plan for me but that I could call a different phone number to change secondary insurance plans. So once I’d gotten off the phone with the lady from my primary insurance company I called another phone number to tell someone from that particular health plan that I wanted to choose said insurance plan as my secondary insurance. The person I spoke with at that number told me that he’d see if he could expedite the process so that I wouldn’t have to wait until June to be an active member of said insurance company. Fortunately he was able to expedite the process for me. During his and my conversation with one another he put a state worker on the phone and she was actually the one who’d expedited the process for my secondary insurance to kick in the following day. I even made sure that the state worker that was on the line with the other worker and I, enrolled me into the dental insurance plan as well as the medical insurance plan. Once I was enrolled in the secondary insurance plan that I wanted to be enrolled in I was informed by both the state worker as well as the worker from my secondary insurance company that I’d need to call my secondary insurance company the following day to let someone from that company know that the process had been expedited for me to become a member of said insurance company. Because apparently if I don’t call the following day and let that particular insurance company know that I’ve enrolled as a member then I’d have to wait over a month for the secondary insurance plan to become active. No thanks!! That’s the last thing I’d want to do. Shortly after I’d gotten off the phone with a state worker I logged into my school account again because I wanted to double-check that today was not the day to register for classes as I’d originally thought it would be. And fortunately when I logged into my school account I discovered that the following day was when people who receive priority registration could register for his or her classes at the college I’m going to be attending. Shortly after I’d double-checked what I’d read the previous night I called my Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC) to update my address with the agency he works for. Unfortunately though I had to leave him a voicemail. Shortly after I’d left my VRC a voicemail I called the CVS Pharmacy I’m currently with to update my address. Unfortunately though the lady I spoke with at that particular pharmacy told me that she couldn’t put a PO box as a person’s address. So I went ahead and gave CVS Pharmacy my physical address for now. Then after I’d gotten off the phone with that lady I Googled CVS Pharmacy with the zip code of my physical address. Once I’d located a CVS Pharmacy that’s near my place I called that particular CVS Pharmacy location. The lady I spoke with at that particular CVS location informed me that I’d need to come into that particular CVS Pharmacy location to update my insurance information with said store. She also informed me that I’d need to get a doctor in this state ASAP so I can continue to have my prescriptions refilled. Shortly after I’d gotten off the phone with the lady at the CVS Pharmacy I’d just changed to, my VRC called me. During his and my conversation with one another I gave him both of my current addresses. Shortly after he and I’d gotten off the phone with one another I received a phone call from the agency that’s supposed to do my Assistive Technology (AT) evaluation. During my conversation with a lady who works at that particular business the lady asked if I could go to said business on the morning or afternoon of the 10th. I told her that afternoon would probably be best so that my VRC could figure out transportation arrangements for me. I then asked the lady from said business if she’d email me the appointment information as well as the business’s address. After I’d gotten off the phone with that particular lady I called my VRC to give him the latest update. However I ended up talking to my VRC’s assistant...so even though I don’t like giving people messages I gave her the latest update to give to him.

A little while after I'd written my last blog entry Monday I Googled "post office, email us." In the email I'd sent to the post office I asked that particular business if said business had updated my address information for me. Because I wanted to verify whether the lady who'd recently helped me at a local post office followed through with what she'd told me she would. A little while after I'd sent an email to the post office the sighted friend who I'd asked to activate my gift cards from Samsung texted me. In the text messages that said friend had sent me he told me that each gift card from Samsung had been activated. In the text messages he'd sent me he also told me the amount of money that each gift card from Samsung had on it. And I was right in thinking that Samsung had given me $90 total. A little while after I'd learned how much was on the gift cards I currently have I watched the latest Once Upon A Time episode on the Hulu app that's on my phone. Fortunately I had no problems getting that particular episode to load and play. Interestingly though there was one thing that one of the characters in the show said that I felt has been true in my personal experience. The quote that was said was something to the affect of "When your world is small you sometimes have to create things to make your world bigger." I find that particular quote to be true in my personal experience because when I was a young girl living under my mom's roof and when I was a young adult living under my mom's roof I had a vivid imagination. I still have a vivid imagination to this day but when I had to use my vivid imagination to create a pleasant world for myself to live in I found that that particular tool was a great one to use. Because I realized that the people around me weren't going to give me the time of day so if I wanted things to change for the better I had to make that happen myself. Some way, somehow I had to ensure my own happiness to the extent that I could control that particular emotion. A while after I'd watched the latest episode of Once Upon A Time the friend and I who'd been working on creating music together continued our music creating venture. Once again though said friend and I completely scrapped what we'd come up with because what we'd created just didn't go anywhere. That particular aspect of music-making was quite frustrating to me because I really enjoyed a particular sound that I'd come up with. However when said friend and I'd talked about things and how we both wanted to be 100 percent happy with whatever music we created together I felt better about the fact that it would take us time to create something awesome. When I woke up Tuesday morning I called the college I'm going to be attending. When the college's automated system gave me the list of choices that I could choose to connect with I chose to be connected to the college's financial aid office. When I explained what I'd wanted to know to the lady I spoke with at the college's financial aid office the lady informed me that I'd have to log onto the college's website using my login information in order to find out what my financial aid status was. The lady I spoke with then told me that if I'd received a grant from the college, said grant would appear in the same area as my financial aid information. So once I'd gotten off the phone with that particular lady at the college's financial aid office I logged into my school account on my school's website. Once I'd logged into my school account I searched for a way that I could update my mailing address online. Fortunately I found where I could update my address quite easily. And fortunately that particular part of my college's website was accessible to me. Although it was kind of tricky to navigate that part of my college's website. Yet I was able to accomplish changing my address with the college as I'd wanted to do. Shortly after I'd taken care of that particular thing I tried to view my financial aid status on my college's website. However that part of the college's website was not able to be read by VO on my Mac. So after I'd made that particular discovery I texted one of my friends to ask for his help reading the information I needed to know. Shortly after I'd sent a text to that particular friend I received an email from someone from the post office. In the email that the person from the post office had sent me he or she told me that it would take a week or so for the address change to be made. In the same email that a person from the post office had sent me he or she also gave me a website link that I could go to, to check the status of my address change. Given that I knew how inaccessible that part of the post office's website was though I replied to the email that someone from the post office had sent me. In my reply email to the post office I let the post office know that I'd contact that particular business in a week or so to verify with said business whether my address was successfully changed. In the same reply email that I'd sent to someone from the post office I also told the person from the post office that I'm totally blind and that that's why I'm asking that particular business to tell me the status of my address change. A little while after I'd replied to the email from someone at the post office I searched the app store on my phone for the T-Mobile Tuesdays app. Fortunately I found that particular app right away. And fortunately said app is currently accessible with VO on my phone. So once the T-Mobile Tuesdays app was on my phone I checked to see what the current deals were that T-Mobile was doing for its customers. There wasn't any good giveaways that I saw on the T-Mobile Tuesdays app that I wanted to take advantage of though. Shortly after I'd gone through this week's free giveaways from T-Mobile I received a text message from the friend I'd asked to check whether I'd been awarded anything from financial aid or whether I'd been awarded anything from the college. In the text message said friend had sent me he asked me if one of our mutual friends could take a look since he was at work. I replied to his text message right away to let him know that I was fine with one of our mutual friends looking into this for me. So a few minutes later my friend texted me to let me know that I hadn't been awarded anything from financial aid or the college yet. In the same text message I'd received from my friend, said friend also told me that when our mutual friend had logged into my school account she'd discovered that I need to complete some kind of orientation for financial aid as well as that I need to complete a title four form for financial aid. I don't know what either of those items are so I messaged my friend back. In that particular text message I'd sent him I asked him if he'd have our mutual friend try to find out whether those things were quick things that she could help me with or whether I'd have to have my school take care of those things for me. Shortly after I'd sent that particular text message to my friend I received a phone call from a number that I didn't recognize. When I answered the phone call the person on the other line asked if they could speak to someone named Brandon. I didn't feel like fucking with the person on the other line so I just told the man that he had the wrong number. He then asked in a perplexed tone of voice "Oh, this isn't Brandon?" What an idiot!! Given the fact I'd told you that you have the wrong number why the fuck would I say that if it weren't true? And not just that but do I sound like a fucking man? No I don't!! A little while after I'd gotten off the phone with the man who'd had the wrong number I called the college that I'm going to be attending. Again I selected the option from the automated system to connect me to the financial aid office. I told the lady I spoke with at the college's financial aid office what my situation was: I told her that when I'd looked at my financial aid status today I'd found out that the website was saying that I needed to complete some kind of orientation for financial aid as well as that I needed to complete a title four form for financial aid. I then asked the lady whether she'd be able to help me fill out those things over the phone and unfortunately she couldn't do so. She then told me that if I went into the college's financial aid office someone there would help me take care of completing these requirements. Once I'd gotten off the phone with the lady at the college's financial aid office I texted the friend I'd been texting throughout the day to let him know what I'd found out. In the same text message I'd sent him I also said that if him or one of our mutual friends could help me fill out those forms, that would be great. In the same text message I'd sent said friend I also said that if none of my friends could help me fill out those forms then I could go to the college I'm going to be attending and have someone from the college's financial aid office fill those forms out for me. In the text I'd sent my friend I also made sure to tell him that the lady I'd spoken with at the college's financial aid office had said that it would be no problem for someone at the college's financial aid office to help me fill out those forms. A few minutes after I'd gotten off the phone with the lady I spoke with at the college's financial aid office I tried to log into my Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) account. However I couldn't remember what my password was because I rarely log onto that particular website. So I ended up sending a tweet to FAFSA to ask for that particular business's help in updating my address. Shortly after I'd tweeted FAFSA I texted said friend the latest update even though the mutual friend of his and mine who was also looking into my financial aid situation had texted me. In the text message she'd sent me she told me that she'd used her phone to check into my financial aid situation. And unfortunately her phone was not showing her all of the information she'd wanted to see. So I then texted her the suggestion that hers and my mutual friend should try looking into my financial aid information on his laptop. So that's just what hers and my mutual friend did: he used his laptop to look into my financial aid situation. Unfortunately though even when using his laptop he discovered that the paperwork that my college's financial aid office wanted from me could not be emailed to anyone. Said paperwork was in a Portable Document Format (PDF) which meant that I'd have to actually go to the college that I'm going to be attending. A little while after I'd texted with the two friends of mine who'd been helping me look into my financial aid situation I went to Starbucks (a coffee shop that I love) with another friend of mine. The reason that said friend and I went to Starbucks with one another was because said friend was supposed to meet someone there to talk to her about possibly renting a room in her house. Interestingly though my friend has only been looking for a place for himself for a week or so...and he's had a much easier time looking for a place than I had looking for a place for myself. LOL. After said friend and I'd left Starbucks, the two of us ate sushi with one another at a Japanese restaurant. Neither of us had been to that particular restaurant before. Our Starbucks coffee was delicious and so was the food that we'd eaten at the Japanese restaurant!! Yesterday morning I was ready to go to the college I'm going to be attending to see what additional paperwork the financial aid office wanted me to fill out. So a friend of mine who attends the same college I do took Uber with me to the college. The Uber driver that he and I'd had on the way to college was very talkative. And in saying that our Uber driver was talkative what I mean is that our Uber driver talked for pretty much the entire ride. My friend and I just listened to what she had to say. LOL. Once our Uber driver had gotten us to the college though my friend and I walked up to the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD). As he and I were walking with one another toward that particular office though someone who worked at that particular office saw the two of us and asked what we needed to do. So I told the lady from the OSD that I needed the golf cart driver to take me to the financial aid office. So my friend and I stood outside with one another and it just so happened that the man who drives the golf cart walked up to my friend and I at that moment. So I told Mr. Golf Cart Driver where I wanted to go and my friend and I hopped onto his golf cart. Mr. Golf Cart Driver dropped my friend off at the place he wanted to go to first because that particular place was the closest to where we'd come from. Once my friend had gotten to where he'd needed to go Mr. Golf Cart Driver suggested that I ask the OSD to give me a line pass. Because according to Mr. Golf Cart Driver having a line pass would allow me to easily go to the front of the line at any time when I'm at the college I'm going to be attending. Hopefully I'll remember to ask someone at the OSD about a line pass the next time I go to the college. Once Mr. Golf Cart Driver had dropped me off at the financial aid office he told me that he'd wait for me to get done whatever I needed to get done. So once I'd sat down at a chair in front of someone who'd worked at the college's financial aid office I told the lady who'd said she'd help me that I first wanted to verify that my address had successfully changed with the college. She said that my address had been successfully changed. I then asked her if my address would need to be updated on my FAFSA applications. However she said that when I'd updated my address with the school, my address was also updated on my FAFSA applications. After I'd cleared that particular thing up with the lady at the college's financial aid office I told the lady what my situation was. I explained to her that I was unable to fill out the additional paperwork that the financial aid office wanted me to fill out because I'm totally blind and that part of the college's website is not accessible to blind people. The lady's response to what I'd told her was "Well here's the paperwork that we need from you. Go to the OSD and have someone from that particular department help you fill out said paperwork. They're licensed to do that sort of thing." The lady then threw the paperwork at me, literally. If I hadn't been so goddamn astounded at that lady's response to what I'd said I would've asked her what her name was so that I could've reported her to the head of the OSD. I'm still going to report her to the head of the OSD though. It's just a shame that I don't know her name. So anyway when the lady at the college's financial aid office responded to my request for her help the way she did I went back to the OSD. When I was in the OSD a second time a couple of the OSD staff members were kind enough to fill out the additional paperwork that the financial aid office wanted from me. While I was at the OSD one of the staff members in that particular department even helped me contact the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) so that I could request for said school to send my high school transcripts or my high school diploma as proof that I indeed graduated high school. The staff member at the OSD left a message with the person in charge of records at TSBVI. In the message that particular OSD staff member left though she remembered to give the lady from records at TSBVI my phone number. A little while after said staff member at the college's OSD had left the lady at TSBVI a voicemail she told me that she'd dropped the paperwork into the financial aid department's drop box that she'd helped me fill out that day. A few minutes after I'd taken care of everything that I'd needed to take care of at the college I then asked an acquaintance of mine whether she'd taken all of my female roommate wanted ads down that were posted around different places at the college. She said that she'd taken them down for me which was a relief. After I'd finished talking with said acquaintance a friend and I left the college with one another. The Uber driver that said friend and I'd had was kind of...strange. Like, said Uber driver was trying to relate to my friend and I by asking the two of us what we were frustrated about. So my friend and I told our Uber driver what had happened when I went to the college's financial aid office: how a lady who worked in that particular department at the college had pawned me off on the OSD. Our Uber driver was pissed off right along with me which was a nice feeling. He even went on a long tangent about how he'd worked for the college's OSD and had to deal with that particular problem of people being pawned on him by various departments at the college. My friend and I enjoyed that particular conversation that the two of us had with our Uber driver. Once said friend and I were at his apartment though the lady in charge of records at TSBVI called me. During hers and my conversation with one another I laid out for her why I wanted TSBVI to either send me my high school diploma or for TSBVI to send me my high school transcripts. When the lady from TSBVI asked what I'd need those documents for I told her that I need them because I'm going to attend college in a new state. So I nEed to show said state that I graduated high school years ago. The lady from records at TSBVI then asked me if I'd wanted TSBVI to send me my high school diploma or whether I wanted TSBVI to send me my high school transcripts. So I told her that I'd like for TSBVI to send me my high school transcripts and she then gave me three TSBVI email addresses that she wanted me to email my record request to. Unfortunately though when I tried to email the three email addresses that I'd been given my phone randomly decided to be a pain in the ass and not let me email all three TSBVI email addresses. So I tried putting a semicolon after one email address before I typed in the second email address. However that particular thing didn't produce the results I'd expected it would. So I then typed a comma after one of the email addresses then I typed the second email address. Unfortunately though that particular method didn't produce the results I'd hoped it would either. So I sent the email to two of the TSBVI email addresses I'd been given and put a comment within the body of said email saying something like "My phone would not let me type in the third email address so if you need to forward my email to the third person that's fine." Several hours after I'd sent that particular email to the records people at TSBVI a friend suggested to me that I send another email to the TSBVI records people to ask if said people would send my high school diploma as well as my high school transcripts to me. So that's exactly what I did: I sent a second email to both of the TSBVI email addresses that I'd been given and asked the records people if they'd send me my high school diploma as well as my high school transcripts. A little while later that same friend suggested that I send Ticket Master a tweet on Twitter to let that particular company know that said company's website is not accessible to blind people. So given the fact that I'd thought his idea was a good suggestion I tweeted Ticket Master. In the tweet that I'd sent Ticket Master I said "I'm blind and trying to use your site to buy tickets. Your website is not accessible nor is your app accessible to the blind. This is ridiculous!! Someone should not do something for me that I could do myself if the website and app were accessible to me." Shortly after I'd sent that particular tweet to Ticket Master I received a tweet response from that particular company. In the tweet that that particular company had sent me I was asked to send Ticket Master a Direct Message (DM). So I immediately sent that particular company a DM. In the first DM that I'd sent Ticket Master I informed that particular company that I want to buy tickets to an Ed Sheeran concert that's coming up in this state in a few months. A few minutes later Ticket Master sent me another DM. In that particular DM that Ticket Master had sent me I was asked how many tickets I needed. So I immediately replied to that DM from Ticket Master and told Ticket Master that I wanted to buy two tickets. A little while later I received another DM response from Ticket Master. In that particular DM response that that particular company had sent me I was told that said company had reached out to the event planners for this particular event. And according to that particular DM that I'd reCeived from Ticket Master the reason that said company had reached out to the event planners of this particular event was because the event planners only want the event's tickets to be sold online. In that particular DM that Ticket Master had sent me though I was also informed that that particular company would message me when said company heard from the people said company had reached out to. A little while after I'd received that particular DM from Ticket Master I re-read one of the emails that I'd received from an Academic Counselor at the college I'm going to be attending. In the email from said academic counselor that I'd re-read, I re-read that particular email from her because I'd wanted to check the Class Registration Number (CRN) for the class that I'm going to take at the college this summer. When I'd re-read said email from the academic counselor at the college though I saw that she'd typed the same class for two separate semesters. So I'm hopeful that when it's time for me to register for the class I'm going to take this summer, the CRN that the academic counselor at the college emailed me will be correct. Shortly after I'd re-read the email from the academic counselor at the college the friend of mine who'd originally said he'd help me purchase the Ed Sheeran tickets texted me. In the text he'd sent me he asked if I still wanted him to purchase those tickets for me. So I immediately responded to his text to let him know that I'd appreciate his help purchasing those tickets. He and I then exchanged several text messages with one another about the tickets like how much the tickets were and whether I wanted to pay for parking. I thought the question he'd asked about parking was a funny question, especially given the fact that both my friend and I who want to go to this concert are blind. LOL. I ended up falling asleep shortly after I'd exchanged several text messages with the sighted friend who said he'd help me purchase two Ed Sheeran tickets. I ended up falling asleep a little while after I'd started exchanging text messages with my friend though. LOL. When I woke up this morning I was woken up by my phone ringing. So although I didn't answer the phone call I'd received I listened to the voicemail that the person had left me. It turned out that the lady from T-Mobile that I'd spoken with earlier in the week had called me back to change my passcode for me. Shortly after I'd listened to that particular lady's voicemail the sighted friend of mine who'd agreed to help me purchase two Ed Sheeran tickets continued his text message exchange with me. It turned out though that Ticket Master's website would not accept the gift cards that I'd wanted to use towards my Ed Sheeran ticket purchase which was frustrating as fuck!! In this morning's text message exchange with my friend he told me that Ed Sheeran tickets are selling fast at the particular concert venue that I want to go to. A little while after I'd finished exchanging text messages with said friend I received a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. When I answered that particular phone call I discovered that the recording that spoke on the other line was not only in Spanish but said recording was a scam. The Spanish recording said something about me having been selected to win $100,000,000. That's right, $100,000,000. LOL. Stupid people!! I mean, I know that there are people who actually fall for scams like that but come on!! Not a tech savvy person like me!! A little while after I'd gotten off the phone with the Spanish-speaking scammer I called the college I'm going to be attending. From the college's automated system I selected to be transferred to the college's financial aid office. Upon being transferred to the college's financial aid office though no one answered the phone. So I left the college's financial aid office a voicemail telling said department at the college that I had some questions for that particular department regarding the paperwork that I'd filled out for said office the previous day. In the same voicemail that I'd left the college's financial aid office I also told said department at the college that I had some questions about when I'd receive a grant from the college that I'm pretty sure I'm eligible for. A little while after I'd left a voicemail with the financial aid office at the college I'm going to be attending I called another place that I needed to change my address with. Once I'd gotten off the phone with that particular company I called my Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC) to let him know that I haven't heard from the agency that's supposed to do my Assistive Technology (AT) evaluation. During his and my conversation with one another my VRC also told me that he'd been given a demo of Artificial Intelligence, Remote Assistant (AIRA). I told him that I felt envious of him and that I really, really, really wanted to try AIRA out for myself. So he asked if I'd be able to afford the most basic AIRA plan. Because apparently my VRC is waiting to hear from someone who works at AiRA to talk to the person about how he could purchase AIRA for me. He told me that he'd already put a call into the person at AIRA that he needs to talk to, to find out that information. So I told him that I'd see what my money situation looks like next month because if I could pay for AIRA's basic plan for myself I'm definitely going to do that.

In the last blog entry that I'd written Wednesday I forgot to mention that the chicken that I'd helped a friend of mine marinate Monday evening did not come out the way said friend and I'd hoped it would. What I mean in saying that the chicken didn't come out the way my friend and I'd hoped it would is that when said friend and I'd eaten said chicken Tuesday evening the both of us thought its taste was horrible. In the last blog entry that I'd written Wednesday I also forgot to mention that Tuesday evening a friend of mine hooked up his keyboard in his apartment. He'd recently brought his keyboard from his mom's house to his apartment because I'd told him that part of me wants to start playing the piano again. When said friend and I'd had that particular conversation with one another though I told him that the biggest part of me doesn't want to play the piano ever again because of the stereotype that many sighted people have regarding the fact that all blind people are musically inclined. Like, because of the fact that the majority of people in the world think that all blind people are talented I don't want to be lumped into that particular category which is what I fear would happen if people knew that I'm considering playing the piano again. Because the truth is that I used to play piano from the time I was in elementary school until I graduated high school. The thing that it's important for people to know though is that the reason I even started playing the piano was because my mom's side of the family forced me to do so. In some ways though I enjoyed playing the piano. Like, whenever I'd have a piano recital and get to dress up in really pretty dresses, that aspect of things was a blast. And as I got older, I began to appreciate my piano playing at least a bit more than I'd enjoyed it as a young girl. Because as a young girl I seriously thought that my mom's side of the family having me play the piano was a punishment for the fact that I existed. I also used to sing from the time I was in elementary school throughout high school. I was even in a play when I was a student at the Louisiana Center for the Blind (LCB). Because each year the LCB had its students perform in a play that was written by Jerry Whittle (who was LCB's Braille instructor when I was a student at LCB). After I'd finished acting in that particular play though I stopped singing because I just didn't enjoy singing anymore. And I still don't enjoy singing to this day. Wednesday evening the friend of mine who'd hooked up his keyboard at his apartment and I started creating a song with one another on his keyboard. What I mean in saying that that particular friend of mine and I started creating a song with one another on his keyboard is that my friend played his keyboard and I'd suggest things to him that I thought would sound good in the song. The process of making a song became very boring to me pretty quickly though. Like, I couldn't stand having to listen to the same damn thing over and over and over and over again. LOL. So a little while after my friend and I'd spent time creating a song together I re-downloaded an app onto my phone called Talkspace. I'd actually seen an advertisement on FB a day or so ago about that particular app then I downloaded it to my phone right then. However I didn't know anything about said app other than the fact that I'd seen an advertisement for said app on FB. But since I'm not usually the type of person to just jump into downloading apps onto my phone I removed Talkspace from my phone until I could find out whether said app worked with VO or not. So Wednesday evening when one of my friends who happens to be blind mentioned Talkspace to me I asked her how that particular app was for us screen reader people. Since I didn't hear from her right away though I went ahead and re-downloaded Talkspace onto my phone. That particular app seemed accessible from the start in that I was able to read the different therapist's names and their titles. Since I didn't know much about what the letters for those therapist's titles meant though I went ahead and double-tapped "sign up for an account." The actual process of signing up for an account was pretty shitty for a screen reader user in my opinion. Because I was unable to tell what I was supposed to put into each edit field...until I'd typed my first name. Then when I'd hit the "next" button VO spoke aloud to me that I hadn't entered in an email address which was what said app had wanted me to enter. So I hit the "back" button and entered in my email address like Talkspace wanted me to do. I then guessed what the next edit field would be and it turned out that I had to enter in a password. Then when I'd gotten to the next edit field I thought I'd have to reenter in the password that I'd put in the previous edit field. It turned out though that Talkspace wanted me to come up with a nickname for myself so I did. Then once I'd came up with a nickname for myself I was able to connect to someone to have a free consultation with a person. The lady I'd been connected with informed me that she was going to ask me a few questions about myself so that she'd be able to match me with a therapist that would meet my needs. The cool thing about Talkspace though is that people can respond to messages on his or her own time. There's also the ability for people to video chat, audio chat and of course just to send messages to the person he or she's talking with. Yesterday morning the friend who'd mentioned Talkspace to me the previous night said that Talkspace works well for her as a therapist. She also said though that she wasn't sure how said app would work for someone on the client side of Talkspace. So a little while after I'd read that particular text message from her I sent another message to the person I'm consulting with on Talkspace. In the message I'd sent the lady I asked her if when I'm paired up with a therapist, said therapist would be able to obtain my insurance information so that she or he could get paid for my therapy sessions with him or her. Shortly after I'd sent that particular message to the therapist who's doing my consultation on Talkspace I texted my friend who'd told me about Talkspace to ask her the same question. After I'd sent that particular text message to her I unsubscribed from receiving emails from Roomster (an app that i'd downloaded onto my phone when I was looking for a place to rent). I then completely deleted my Roomster account. That way I wouldn't have to deal with that particular business anymore in any way. A little while later I logged onto FB and saw a message from FB that said something like "If there are certain apps that you don't want to have access to your FB account anymore then go into your settings and remove those apps from your FB account." So that's just what I did: I went into settings and removed Roomster and Airbnb from my FB account. Although I forgot to mention a while back that I'd removed the Airbnb app from my phone. After I'd taken care of removing the apps from my FB page that I didn't want to have access to my account I received an email from the academic counselor at the college I'm going to be attending. In the email that she'd sent me she informed me that she'd scheduled for me to have an appointment with her on May 2nd at 4:15 in the evening so that the two of us could discuss what all of my options are of the universities I could choose to attend after I've completed community college. So after I'd seen that particular email from her I replied to said email to let her know that that particular appointment date worked fine for me. I then added said appointment date to my iPhone's calendar so that I wouldn't forget about the upcoming meeting I'd scheduled with her. A little while after I'd put the meeting with the academic counselor at the college on my calendar for next month I received a message from the therapist I'd been consulting with on Talkspace. In the message she'd sent me she told me that Talkspace does not actually bill people's insurance companies when people use that particular app or service. So I then sent her a message back letting her know that insurance would be the only way that I could pay for said service or app. She and I exchanged a few more messages with one another on Talkspace and I ended up saying "I'm a college student who's on a fixed income. So I won't be able to afford any of the plans that are offered for people who use Talkspace. Thank you for your time." A little while after I'd sent that particular message to the therapist I'd been consulting with on Talkspace I sent a text to my friend who'd recently told me about Talkspace. In the text I'd sent my friend I told her that Talkspace doesn't actually bill people's insurance companies for payment. Shortly after I'd sent her that particular text message she replied to said text message saying that that was ridiculous. I replied to her text message saying that I completely agreed with her that it was ridiculous that Talkspace does not actually bill people's insurance companies for payment. A few minutes later I then posted an FB status update to make people aware of that fact about Talkspace just in case there may be people on my FB friends list who'd consider using said app/service but are unsure of how said app/service gets paid by people. Because for me, learning that particular bit of information sucked because I really want to get back into going to therapy on a regular basis. Because to be honest even though I write a lot and writing things down on a regular basis helps in terms of me being able to dump things out I still miss being able to talk to a person who's trained to listen to people and help people through the things that he or she's struggling with at a given time. A little while after I'd written that particular FB status update a couple of my FB friends commented on that particular FB status update. One of those FB friends said something like "I don't think that Talkspace's rates are high the way you think they are." So given that I knew that this particular person liked to insert herself into things that she knew nothing about I opened up Talkspace and reread the rates that I was given by the therapist who'd been doing my consultation. I then replied to this person's FB comment on said FB status update that I'd created. In my reply to this person's comment I said something like "Talkspace's rates are as follows: the first price is $196 a month. The second price is $236 a month and the last price is $314 a month. So yes Talkspace's rates are outrageous!" I then texted my friend who'd told me about Talkspace to give her the same information. She agreed with me that Talkspace's rates are ridiculous, especially when a person's insurance company isn't helping him or her pay a thing for said service or app. This morning I woke up at 8:00 because I'd wanted to go to a place to have my certified legal name change document printed. I was then going to go to a local DMV with everything that I needed to get a state ID for the state that I now live in. However I didn't want to spend extra money that I don't need to spend to get something printed when I can have someone print said document for me for free. So I'm going to wait until I can have someone print said document for me because said document is only a page long. Once that particular document has been printed and in my hands then I'm going to go to a local DMV to get my state ID. A little while after I'd gotten up this morning I logged onto my college's website with my login information so that I could verify when priority registration was going to be. It turned out that priority registration was going to be on the first of next month which was great to know because since I'm disabled I can participate in priority registration. The only thing is that before the first of next month I'll need to talk to someone at the college about how I can ensure that my financial aid pays for the first class that I'm going to take this upcoming semester. Because I have no earthly idea what the process is to make that happen. But I need to know how that's going to work because I can't afford to pay for classes myself.

In the last blog entry that I'd written Saturday I forgot to mention the fact that a friend of mine put bump dots on a few buttons of his microwave. Hopefully I'll have an easier time pressing those particular buttons on his microwave now that those bump dots are on said device. Because before my friend had bump dots on part of his microwave, his microwave was difficult for me to use because of how hard I had to press its buttons. Because given the fact that I have Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) that sometimes causes me pain I knew having those bump dots on my friend's microwave would likely help my RA not be so painful. Saturday evening I started watching a Netflix original show called Everything Sucks. I'd actually started watching said show with a friend a while back but the two of us quickly decided that Everything Sucks was not that great of a show. What changed for me though was the fact that I read an article online that was written by someone who writes for a lesbian blog. In that particular article that the person had written the lady had said that there were lesbian scenes in the show Everything Sucks. So that's the only reason I'm watching the Netflix original show: because I want to see how said show portrays lesbians and other LGBT people. Yesterday afternoon I sent an email to one of the ladies who used to be one of my therapists when I lived in San Antonio. In the email that I'd sent her I explained to her that I've been having really vivid dreams ever since I've left San Antonio. In the same email I'd sent her I also explained to her that the dreams I've been having are so vivid that I'm unsure whether those dreams are real or whether those dreams are just dreams. In the same email I'd sent her I also told her that the vivid dreams that i've been having are about the family members on my mom's side of the family. In the same email I'd sent her I also explained to her that in the dreams I've been having I tell my mom and her other family members off and in real life I say the things that I'm saying in the dream. When I say the things in real life that I'm saying in the dream though the tone of voice that I tell the family members off in sounds demonic. The way the voice that I speak in sounds is scary to me as well as anyone who hears the voice that I speak in during those vivid dreams. And I wanted to know what one of my old therapists would have to say about those dreams, like why those dreams are even occurring as vividly and continually as they are. A little while after I'd sent that email to one of my old therapists in San Antonio a friend of mine called Ticket Master to see if that particular business was opened on the weekends. It wasn't opened though so my friend then called the actual venue where the Ed Sheeran concert is going to take place. Unfortunately that particular business was closed as well. Shortly after my friend and I'd discovered that neither business we'd wanted to talk to was opened on the weekends I searched for the remote app on my iPhone's app store. With this latest iOS update unfortunately VO doesn't speak aloud how much apps actually cost or whether apps are free. VO used to speak that particular information aloud so it's a damn shame that that's no longer the case. Fortunately when I double-tapped on what I'd thought would be the right remote app though said app was free. Once I'd downloaded said app to my phone a friend of mine told me that that particular app is garbage but that said app occasionally gets the job done that it's supposed to. So it's going to be interesting to see what kinds of things I experience when I use the remote app on my iPhone. A little while after a friend of mine had told me a little bit about how the remote app works on my iPhone I drank some Dr Pepper (a soda that I love the taste of). Me drinking some Dr Pepper sparked an interesting discussion between a friend and I in that my friend pointed out how when I drink soda, drinking soda gives me a bigger belly than I like to have. My friend is right and honestly, before today I hadn't touched soda for a week or so. A little while after I'd drank some Dr Pepper the therapist of mine that I'd sent an email to earlier in the day replied to the email I'd sent her. In the email she'd sent me she said that she definitely thinks that the dreams I've been having about my family members are definitely a reflection of the fact I'm continuing to fully accept the abuse and neglect that I endured at their hands. She encouraged me to continue to let myself be angry at all of my family members whenever that particular emotion pops up for me. She warned me though to also continue to pay attention to the fact that I don't want to let my anger allow me to become destructive in any way. Honestly though I'm not worried about my anger getting out-of-hand because I'm pretty good now at letting myself feel whatever it is I feel at a given time and letting that emotion last however long it needs to last. Another reason that I'm not worried about my anger getting out-of-hand is because I know what it's like to hurt people and I'm not the type of person who goes out of her way to hurt anyone. Even when I'm angry at someone I never think about ways that I could destroy said person. I just acknowledge my anger at him or her then let myself sit with said anger for as long as is necessary. This morning a friend of mine texted me the phone number to the agency that's going to give me my Assistive Technology (AT) evaluation at some point. Once I'd seen that particular agency's contact card on my iPhone I added said contact to my phone. After I'd added said agency's contact information to the contacts in my iPhone I wrote on a friend's FB wall to ask her about how to apply for a scholarship she wants to award to someone who has Hydrocephalus (a condition that means a person has excess water on his or her brain). Because I'd seen said friend post a lot of things on her FB page lately about the fact she wants to give a scholarship to someone who has Hydrocephalus and I thought it might be worth applying for the scholarship that she wants to give out to someone. I then had a conversation with another friend of mine about what the purpose is of scholarships is, considering the fact I'm going to receive financial aid. My friend told me that a person gets scholarships so that he or she could use his or her financial aid money for other things that are related to his or her education. I'm not quite sure what that means exactly though. Throughout the morning I went back and forth between wanting to drink the rest of the Dr Pepper that I'd had from yesterday and not drinking anymore of said drink. Like, I told myself over and over again that since that particular bottle of Dr Pepper was nearly full still I should finish the bottle so that it wouldn't go flat and in turn be wasted. However I ended up putting the Dr Pepper bottle into the refrigerator where the rest of the soda is. It was hard for me to do that because a huge part of me wanted to drink the rest of the Dr Pepper. However when I quickly thought of the fact that soda gives me a big belly which I hate I made a hard decision to put the bottle away. Because I'm not cutting caffeine completely. I'm simply stopping soda in particular. And who knows? Maybe I'll occasionally drink a soda but I doubt it because the thought of getting a big belly from drinking soda is awful enough to make me not want soda ever again. A little while after I'd put the Dr Pepper bottle in the refrigerator where it belongs I watched several episodes of Everything Sucks. I actually finished the entire show. I'm still of the opinion that that particular show was not a great show. The few lesbian scenes that were in the show were a big let down too. I can't imagine Everything Sucks having another season to be honest. Hopefully Netflix agrees with me. LOL. Shortly after I'd watched Everything Sucks in its entirety I received an email at my school email address. When I checked who'd sent me the email it turned out that someone from the college I'm going to be attending had seen my female roommate wanted ad that had been posted at the college. In the email that the lady had sent me she'd wanted to know if I was still looking for a roommate so I immediately replied to her email to let her know that I'd already found a place to live. I then texted the friend of mine who goes to the same college to ask him if he'd see about getting my female roommate wanted ad taken down wherever said female roommate wanted ad is posted at the college. A while after I'd texted said friend of mine to ask for his help in making sure that my female roommate wanted ad gets removed from the college I Googled the name of the agency that's going to do my AT evaluation because I wanted to make sure that the phone number I'd been given by my friend was the correct number for said agency. Because the phone number that I'd been given by my friend for said agency was a cell phone number. At least said number was labeled as a cell phone number on the agency's contact card that my friend had texted me. Fortunately though the number that my friend had given me was a correct number for said agency. In addition to that particular cell number for that particular agency though I also found another number for said agency in my Google search results. So now I have both of those phone numbers for said agency in the phone contact I'd created in my phone for said agency. A little while after I'd edited said agency's contact card in my phone I noticed that a friend of mine who's also friends with the lady who wants to give a scholarship to someone with Hydrocephalus liked what I'd written on Scholarship Giver's FB wall. I then wrote a comment on what I'd written on Scholarship Giver's FB wall saying "Or if anyone else knows how I could apply for this scholarship he or she could tell me too." A little while after I'd posted said comment to Scholarship Giver's FB wall I talked to another friend of mine about doing certain things in moderation. The friend of mine who I'd had said conversation with told me that if I could make the current opened bottle of Dr Pepper last for a few days or if I could even make the current opened Dr Pepper bottle last for a week, either of those options would be better than the option I usually choose which is to drink one bottle of Dr Pepper or other kind of soda a day. And I think that my friend is right about people doing certain things in moderation. It's currently raining in this city and I love when it rains anywhere. I love the sound of the rain. I love the smell of the rain (whether it hasn't rained yet or whether it's currently raining). In this moment and likely because I'd say that I'm finally getting settled into living in a new city and state I feel good about the decision I made to move here. I can say that leaving San Antonio in particular and Texas as a whole was the healthiest decision I've ever made for myself (for many reasons). And I honestly wish that there could be a requirement for everyone in the world to move to a different city and state than where he or she's actually from. Because moving to a totally new place challenges people in ways that are big and small, anticipated and unanticipated. For example I'm doing more things in the kitchen now that I'm really on my own and don't have an assistant to help me with anything. I'm sure that I could find out whether my insurance company has anything like I'd had in San Antonio where a person could receive an assistant to help him or her with whatever he or she needs help with. But I've been healthy long enough now that I'm learning that I just have to trust myself and trust the fact that I can learn how to do household things that I've felt reluctant to do in the past or that I've felt like I've needed someone's help with for one reason or another. It was really easy for me to have an assistant when I was in San Antonio because for the majority of the time that I'd lived in that particular city I was horribly sick. So now that I've been healthy for over a year and now that this year has been full of changes, I may as well continue the awesome cycle of doing things that I never thought I'd be able to do. Because I'm pretty sure that the more things I discover I can actually do myself, the better I'll feel over all and the more empowered I'll be. There's nothing better than that!!

I've been forgetting to mention that lately I've been thinking about how drastically things have changed from when I lived in San Antonio Texas to how things are for me now that I'm in a new city and state. And I've had some pretty interesting life changes occur that I haven't been able to recognize and admit until just recently. Mainly the PTSD symptoms that I used to have in San Antonio Texas have decreased significantly. This means that I'm sleeping better (for the most part) which is a great thing. Another thing that's changed drastically for me is the way I think about some of the people that I'd blocked on FB a while back. Like, I didn't even realize that I'd felt threatened by certain devoutly religious people that I used to sort of hang out with in San Antonio. What I mean in saying that I'd felt threatened by certain religious people in San Antonio is that I felt like if I were to speak openly to those people about LGBT issues or about the fact that I'm in the LGBT family myself, those people would've had a shit fit and I would've been really depressed and upset about those people's reactions. For the record though it wasn't that I cared what those people thought of me. But rather I didn't want to rock the boat when it came to those people because I felt like I needed those people in my life. So I sacrificed standing up to those people about things that were truly important to me because I was certain that they'd hate me if they knew the truth about me. Now that I live in a different city and state though? While I'm not going to add any of those people back to my FB, the way I think about those people now has changed. Like, if I was contacted by any of those people I wouldn't feel threatened as I'd once felt. I'd be able to be civil with them and I'd hope that I'd be unapologetic about who I am in the discussions I'd have with them. That isn't to say that things would happen as I'd like for them to but I've been reflecting on how I think of these people nonetheless. Like, it's really freed me up to see myself as the beauty that I am even though some people that I may come into contact with won't see some things about me as beautiful. I honestly felt like I'd never reach that point so I'm relieved to see that I proved myself wrong. I've also been forgetting to mention that when I'd moved my bed into my place at the beginning of this month I asked my landlord's wife if I could get house slippers to wear with my leg braces so that I could keep my leg braces on whenever I go into the kitchen. She'd said that that would be fine so hopefully I'll be able to find some house slippers to wear with my leg braces before I start school. I've also been forgetting to mention that I've been trying to watch last week's episode of Once Upon A Time using the TV app that's on my iPhone. However for some unknown reason when I double-tap on the latest episode of Once Upon A Time and the TV app takes me to Hulu (an online streaming service for TV shows and movies) an error message pops up saying that Hulu is unable to play the particular video that I'd double-tapped on. I reached out through FB messenger to the friend who's letting me use his Hulu account information so that I could use said service to ask him if he's had the same problem lately. When he'd responded to my message on FB messenger he'd said that he had to watch last week's episode of Once Upon A Time using the NBC app on his phone because Hulu was giving him trouble as well. Fortunately though I can watch Once Upon A Time on the Apple TV of a different friend of mine. Although since that particular friend of mine has lost the Apple TV remote that he'd had I'll have to wait until sometime when he's around so that he can let me use his phone as an Apple TV remote. Ugh. LOL. Yesterday afternoon I finished reading Rising Strong. That particular book was a good read. However there was one thing in that particular book that's made me examine my own life. Brene Brown (the author of Rising Strong) talked about how in her opinion regrets are a necessary part of life for everyone. The Rising Strong author takes things even further by saying that if people don't have regrets in his or her life then he or she really isn't living wholeheartedly. I disagree with the author Brene Brown's perspective (at least in part) regarding her assessment that regrets are a necessary part of life for people because I can honestly say that I don't regret a thing that's happened in my life. There was a time a few years ago that upon reflecting on an interview that I'd done for someone who was doing a project on how blind people perceive the world I totally regretted doing said interview. And to some extent I still do regret doing said interview but for me, said regret does not last. Because in that particular instance I was young when I did the interview for the guy who'd done a project on how blind people perceive the world. At the time I'd done the interview I was in my early 20s and I was brand-new to having my own apartment. A lot of the questions that the interviewer had asked me were things that I didn't feel I had appropriate answers for. Not only that but I felt like in doing said interview I was forced to put on a mask because the interviewer didn't want me to speak openly and honestly about the ways in which my mom had fucked up my life. Because that sort of conversation likely would've been uncomfortable for him. Yet I didn't call my mom any names nor did I say anything to the guy who'd interviewed me that wasn't true. And maybe I wasn't meant to give him a knock-out interview. Maybe that particular experience of mine had happened for a reason I'll never understand. All I know is that when I think of the kind of deep regret that the author Brene Brown talks about in her book Rising Strong I can't relate to that kind of regret. The regret that I feel for having done an interview for the guy who'd done a project on how blind people perceive the world is more like the numerous emotions I experience: the regret I occasionally feel about having done that particular interview ebbs and flows just as all my other emotions ebb and flow. I try not to think a lot about why I wish I hadn't done that particular interview because there were a couple times when I'd asked the guy who'd interviewed me to please take me out of his project. When I'd asked him to take me out of his project I was kind to him. Yet when he'd told me that he'd really liked my story because I'd talked about things that he'd thought were important (throughout his and my talks with one another I mostly talked about having been sexually assaulted) I felt guilty for even asking him to take me out of his project. Because he'd reacted so strongly about me not wanting to be a part of his project anymore I didn't push him anymore. A while later though I tried one last time to ask that he take me out of his project on how blind people perceive the world. I was met with the same kind of attitude though which was frustrating as hell for me. Because even when I'd signed a print lease saying that I knew what I was getting into in doing this interview with this guy, said print lease never actually applied to me because the document was not in a format that I could read. So when I say that I have regret occasionally about how this particular situation has turned out I try to remind myself that maybe the fact that I'd done that interview for this guy was not about me at all. That particular thought process is helpful to me because it's a good reminder that sometimes being able to talk to someone who's a complete stranger can be a good outlet for a person to talk about his or her struggles. A while after I'd finished reading Rising Strong I checked the Gmail app on my iPhone to see if I'd received any messages from anyone at the college I'm going to be attending. And as it turned out I'd missed an email message from the Academic Counselor that I'd met with Monday. Once I'd realized that I'd forgotten to read an email from her I read said email. In the email that the Academic Counselor at the college had sent me she'd reminded me that I'm not registered for any classes at said college yet. In the same email that she'd sent me she'd also reminded me that the first date for priority registration would be May first. In the same email that she'd sent me she also let me know that I could call her or email her at the end of next week if I'd like to have her help registering for my first semester class. A while after I'd read the email from the Academic Counselor at the college I'm going to be attending a friend of mine asked the acquaintance of mine if he'd had a chance to email the record request form to the Travis County Court in Austin. Fortunately when my friend asked said acquaintance this time, said acquaintance said that he'd emailed the record request form to the Travis County Court in Austin for me. A little while after I'd heard that bit of good news I received an email from the Senior iTunes Advisor that's trying to figure out how I can unsubscribe from Apple's job-related emails. In the email that she'd sent me she suggested I log into Apple's job-related website again and try to unsubscribe from said emails that way. So I replied to her email saying something like "Given that I've already done this particular thing I don't see how doing the exact same thing again will produce different results." Early this morning I received a phone call from a number that I didn't recognize. Since it wasn't even 8:00 in the morning though I let that particular phone call go to voicemail. Several hours later I checked said voicemail and it turned out that someone was calling me because the person had been informed that I had questions about the insurance that I currently have. I don't know why the person was informed that I had questions about my insurance because I don't have any questions about my insurance plan at this time. The only question I'd had about my insurance lately was whether the county I live in would provide me any and all information that they'd send me in Braille. That way I'd be able to read everything myself. Hopefully the county I live in will do right by me and provide me this reasonable accommodation as I'd requested of them.