A Lot Of Interesting Updates

[chelseajmunoz]

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.