Some of my friends on twitter have noticed I have been using “parkie guide” a lot lately, and keeps asking me what that is. I have become interested in learning about Parkinson’s disease because I have become a fan of Michael J. Fox. (Mr. Fox to me.) So, I started trying to learn about it on my own, from websites such as google among others, but all that did was cause my head to go reeling because they go in to medical terms, and being blind, things such as “face masking” or “dyskinesia” etc. are hard for me to understand, because I can’t picture it. So one day, Mr. Fox’s foundation retweeted a link to a blog of someone named YumaBev. Turns out she has PD herself. Well, first thing I thought was hey, there’s someone I can ask questions to. But then, I got all shy and it took me awhile to get up the nerve to contact her. Once I did though, and we started talking, we clicked. I call her my parkie guide, because she has helped me learn about PD by explaining things in such a way that I understand just what things mean. I think she was the first one to say something about being my parkie guide, and the name sort of stuck. Now to explain, parkie is not demeaning to PD sufferers, actually I think a lot of PD sufferers call themselves ‘parkies.’ At first when I heard it I wasn’t sure if I should use the term, but I was told that it was okay for me to use it. So I find myself using that term as much as someone with PD uses it. It’s kind of like how some blind people call themselves moles or blindies or things like that.

I would just like to thank YumaBev for both taking her time to explain what PD is and how it works and for just being an inspiration all together. It means a lot to have someone who is willing to be there to both answer questions and to just make me laugh and give me an inspirational message when I need it. To keep up with her, you can follow her on twitter by searching for YumaBev
To read my parkie guide’s blog go to:
http://parkinsonshumor.blogspot.com/

I was hanging out on twitter tonight and noticed people asking questions about blindness on the public timeline. Well, I was thinking why not answer some there? Granted I don’t think I’ll be able to answer them all but if I can help educate then why not? Okay, so this is how it’s going to work. I go on, find questions I can answer, and then answer the questions. However, so I don’t tire myself out, I am only going to answer 10 questions a day. Now to figure out if I should do it from my account I have now, or make a new one just for this? I’m thinking I’ll keep the account for now, and we’ll see what happens. So now everyone knows about my latest project, what do you all think?

Hey everyone,
I am thinking of trying to raise money for Michael J. Fox’s foundation. Michael J. Fox has something called Parkinson’s disease and he started a foundation in his name to raise money for cures Etc. I would like to do something to help, but I have no idea what to do. I don’t think they have a telethon or anything, so I can not do what I used to do for the MDA, (stay up 6 to 21 hours straight.) So I am at a loss. Any help would be appreciated. Please put your ideas in the comments section, thank you.

Yet another year has past. Is it just me, or does time just fly by? This year, as usual has been one full of good times and bad ones. I hope the good times continue, and I hope I learned from the bad times. I met some amazing friends this year, and I am really thankful for that. Happy new-year everyone! May 2012 be a wonderful and blessed year for all of you!

I am doing a fund raising project for the MDA on the internet. When the telethon begins so will my fund raiser. I am asking for people to sponsor me. For every hour that I stay up, whether it is 6 hours or 21 hours for the MDA telethon, I am asking my sponsors to donate whatever you can. The telethon has been cut back to 6 hours; however I am aiming for 21 hours. Anyone who wants to sponsor me please email me at my email address below with your screen name and the amount you wish to donate per hour just for my records and make sure you put in the subject line Fighting Sleep To Fight MD of the email.

cant.stare.back@gmail.com

Remember no amount is too small! After completion of this fund raising project Please mail your donation to the MDA. The link to the website is below which will give you the address.

www.mda.org
PS. If in case I would have a phone outage I will try to get word to my friend so he can let everyone know that the fund raiser would be cancelled but still everyone please still try to donate a little something anyway.
Thanks for all your support.
Sincerely,
Cat

I have been doing some looking around, trying to learn about voice training and the like. Not only for my story, but also just to help me with singing in general. The thing I am noticing though is that a lot of the technique that is presented to us online, the way you learn these techniques such as pushing your jaw forward Etc is taught visually. This, of course is not helping me because I can not see my favorite singers perform, so I don’t know how I would learn things, such as how to move my mouth, Etc. The only thing I can think of is to try to email, say, Brett Manning. This, I know is not the best idea because he works with professionals and I’m sure he would charge a lot of money to help me, or at least I think he would. This is money I just do not have right now. I’m not sure how I am going to learn about this. I’m totally lost here. I have learned about some things from people on klango. I am thankful they are willing to answer my non stop questions, however Trying to learn how to move your mouth Etc is not as easy as it seems, more so when you can not see people doing it. Is it hopeless for me to learn with out paying a vocal trainer to teach me things like this?

Okay, I’ll fall asleep sometimes around like 11 or so at night. I usually fall asleep to music or nature sounds, or sometimes, even both. I am fine for a couple hours, but then I wake up and it doesn’t matter how long I stay in bed, I can not get back to sleep. What is causing this? How can I keep myself from waking up like this? Should I just let my playlist play all night long? Would that work?

There is something I need to learn how to do, and that is make a playlist. I usually use music at night to help me get to sleep. It’s either music, or nature sounds, or sometimes even both. I use klango; make the playlist each night and then sleep. I would like to figure out how to make a playlist in either itunes, or windows media player, or even winamp. I need something simple to use, jaws friendly, and that is not a system hog. While I love klango, klango does not save and play playlists. It would be less tedious to have something to just save the playlist so I can open it up and it will be right there. My ipod does this, However if I use it every night it can drain the battery.

Hey all,
Okay I have a slight problem. I tried to put Jeni Stepanek’s book on my ipod but it’s not going as well as I hoped. Basically the files are labeled audio track 01, audio track 02 Etc. Well Itunes puts the files out of order. Instead of it putting disk one together it puts all the files that are labeled audio track 01 together, then all the files named audio track 02 together. I love Itunes, but I find it hard to navigate my music with all these files grouped together like this. Is there a way of merging files together in order so I can have her book there and not have to try navigating it like this? If not, how do you guys think I should get my files to stay together? Would it be better if I just use my old Mp3 player for this? Thanks in advance.

Hey all,
Okay this may be a weird question, but I am stuck. I have an idea for a story. It involves voice training. My problem is I have no clue how voice training works. What you work on Etc. I know breathing is one thing, but what else do you work on? Could someone help me out here?