One more thing I must share about NAOBI— something that moved me and touched my heart. Now, I know it sounds funny to talk about “black people” and point out the differences between their culture and mine— black people’s and white people’s. It seems “politically correct” to be hush-hush about the differences between black people and white people, but I want to tell you some positive things about what’s different about black culture! And this is so neat. It seems — now, I interpreted for a full week last year at the NBDA (National Black Deaf Advocates, a deaf association) conference, and at the end of the week, we danced!— It seems to me that black people cannot get together and not dance. It seems that every conference I’ve been to — and that’s only two, but still — in my experience, when black people gather for a conference, they’ve got to dance together. And it’s so much fun! They had a DJ playing music loud, and everyone danced together— deaf people, interpreters, everyone. And they line up facing each other while people dance down the aisle, you know, like Soul Train. That’s where everyone lines up in two lines facing each other, forming an aisle, and as people move up to the front of the line, they dance down the aisle and do their own thing, show their personality, express what they’re feeling. Everyone on the sidelines cheers them on, goads them on, and roots for them. You strut down that aisle, you dance, you swing, you move your body, and you do your thing, you express yourself. Oh, it’s fun! And people are fiercely supportive.

One thing I noticed at both NBDA and NAOBI is that they do a lot of line dances and “slides”— you know, like The Electric Slide. Maybe you know that dance, maybe not, but anyway, I noticed a lot of that at both conferences. And not just once, but several times each night. It’s like a form of communal bonding. Loads of fun. And I used to do a lot of country-western line dancing, and I was a pro at it, but that was a long time ago, so I’m rusty. But the black people there helped me, guided me along, and showed me what to do. This one woman dancing next to me in the line saw that I was missing steps and didn’t know which direction to go it, so she put her hands around my waist and gently pushed and pulled me forward and back, took me by the arm and gently pushed and pulled me from side to side. And all the while she was so full of friendship and hospitality. It was like she wanted to include me in her family.

Gah! I get so verklempt every time I think about it. I get all choked up and tears come to my eyes. Because during one of the other songs, everyone stood around in a big circle and danced to “We Are Family”— you know the song, “We are family / I got all my sisters with me”? I’ve been to other conventions where that song was played, but I’ve never felt it so deeply, so truly, as when I was at NAOBI. Deaf and hearing people alike were signing the song together in that circle, and as I gazed around that circle of people — and I know it sounds cliché — I felt the love, I felt the sense of family, I felt the interconnectedness. And even though I’m white, I felt like I was included in that family, that I was helped, led, guided, and beckoned to join that family. That — whew! (tears) — that was a great experience. I felt honored that those people welcomed me into their world.

Now, I know that we’re both human. I know that we’re all part of the human race. I am aware of that. But the truth is also that black people have their ways and white people have their ways. They have different cultures, different skin colors, and different historical backgrounds. And that’s important to recognize. We can discuss race; we can discuss our differences. But likewise we can acknowledge our similarities and what we have in common. And the way they welcomed me, I felt like one of them. I felt like an “honorary black person” that night at the dance.

In fact, it’s funny. I grew up with black people at school, thanks to SCPA, the School of Creative & Performing Arts. That experience — because it was an integrated school (voluntary integration) — that school taught me a lot about singing, acting, and dancing, but it also taught me about respecting the diversity of cultures, races, ethnicities, instilled in me a sense of cooperation and collaboration. When we put on a show at that school, the directors who auditioned the players cast them regardless of skin color. And when two people were cast as a married couple, one could be black and the other white, and their kids could be Chinese or Mexican. They could be any color or ethnicity— white, hispanic (and I know there are white hispanics). But that schooling was really, well, a lot of fun. And it taught me a lot, not just about the acting profession, but about dance, and fun, and jazz.

And, to be honest with you, as a gay person, I’ve been around black gay men and black women, and I’ve seen and studied their ways, their mannerisms, their slang, their dance moves and so on. And what was really funny was there was this one white girl who was doing this — it’s funny, I’ll show you at the risk of embarrassing myself — this “back it on up” dance move. So, okay, I can play with that! So I showed her a move I learned from a black gay man, like this— uh, uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh “shake your booty like a bee.” So, these black girls on the dance floor caught me doing that and cracked up and said, “You just got a new nickname: ‘White Chocolate’!” So, I am White Chocolate! LOL. It’s funny. I felt like I was welcome in their world, like I was an “honorary black person.”

I know I’m white. I’m not trying to be black. But it’s still fun to be included. Anyway, I’d better wrap up this vlog and bring it to a close. Thank you for your attention. And if any of you in NAOBI are watching this vlog, thank you. I felt great to be included in your conference. So long!

It’s been over a week since I bought a Wii and just under a week since I bought a Wii Fit. I’d like to share just a few brief first impressions (not a lengthy review but a bulleted list of likes and dislikes).

Wii: Likes & Dislikes

• Likes
  • Active, physical involvement in the games
  • Something fun to do with my husband besides the obvious
  • Great fun when friends & family are visiting
  • Opportunities to play over the Internet
  • Internet connectivity for news, weather, etc.
• Dislikes
  • Graphics at a maximum of 480p with the component cable I was lucky enough to find on sale for $19.99. Not much better than the 480i graphics with the composite cable that came with the Wii. I’m not saying they suck; I’m just saying HD graphics would be preferable.
  • Music is, well… not bad, but it gets old fast. It would be nice if the system and each game would play different music sometimes or have better, less “canned” sounding music.
  • The number of nags you have to click through to do anything. “Remember to wear the wrist strap” Click A. “Make sure there’s enough room around you” Click A. “Hold down the A and B buttons on your remote.” Okay, already!

Wii Fit Likes & Dislikes

• Likes
  • Balance board. As a gaming peripheral, it’s a marvelous invention.
  • The ski jump and ski slalom games. I bought the Wii fit mostly for these.
  • Even more exercise than you can get with the Wii alone.
  • Measuring, charting, goal-setting (imperfectly implemented, but good per se).
• Dislikes
  • Being told I’m overweight when to the world, I’m normal.
  • Not being able to set a BMI goal. The Wii tells me I’m overweight because my BMI is around 25, but it doesn’t let me set a goal for a lower BMI; it only lets me set a goal for a lower weight. At 5’10″ and 175#, I don’t really need to lose weight.
  • The number of nags you have to click through to get to anything you want to do. This is even worse that with the Wii in general. There’s all these little fitness tips and cheerful banter you have to click through, such as “Winter’s almost gone, so it’s a good time to take some of the weight off our bellies” and “Good morning! Do you feel refreshed?”
  • The emotional roller coaster of positive and negative feedback it gives you. You make it through the slalom, no matter how badly, and the graphic shows your Mii with its ski poles in the air (Yay!) and the caption says, “Goal!” But the very next thing you see, if you didn’t do a near-perfect run, is your Mii hunched over, panting, drooping, sad-eyed, like a big LOSER! A sore, petulant loser at that. It’s ridiculous. Best to ignore it and enjoy the game. I’m certainly not slumped over like my Mii!
  • A word about step aerobics. I’m a singer with lots of music and dance training. I played tenor drum in a marching band as a teenage. Like Gene Kelly, “I got rhythm.” Now don’t you tell me that my steps are “OK” but not “Perfect” because I don’t keep in step with the other Miis! Urgh! I’m telling you, the movement of the Miis is OUT of step with the music. The only way for me to move ahead and unlock the advanced step aerobics was to step with the other Miis, which felt very dysrhythmical! Can I get an Amen?

Summary

All right, I know it sounds like I don’t like the Wii Fit because my dislikes were longer rants than my likes. But I really do like it overall. I love the slalom and ski jump. I haven’t actually skied in years (decades), but I love the sense of freedom I get from “skiing” with the Wii Fit. Which brings me to a final “like” which applies greatly to both the Wii and the Wii Fit: the opportunity to play all these different games without having to haul out all this different equipment. The opportunity to jump from playing “virtual” golf, tennis, bowling, baseball, boxing (Wii) and aerobics, yoga, balance games, and strength training (Wii Fit) all in one place with minute changes to the “actual” world must not be underestimated. Think of all the tennis balls you don’t have to go chasing and collecting! It’s no replacement for the real world, but it’s damn cool virtual one.

It was at this same time that I joined the social short messaging website Twitter. So I figured, “Why just send silly Septopus IMs to my friends at work when I could intrigue Earthlings everywhere?” So I started putting my IMs to coworkers into my Twitter “tweets” as well.

Little did I know until I Googled it that there actually was an episode of Home Movies called “The Septopus!” When I pointed this out to my coworker who had started the whole thing, he confessed that he loved that episode and hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Septopus since he first watched it.

So, if you see me tweeting about Septopus (with the hashtag #Septopus), you’ll know what I’m doing– just having fun, breaking up monotony, and honing my copywriting skills. If you like Septopus, feel free to tweet about him with the hashtag #Septopus. Who knows? Maybe a worldwide chorus will sing his praises!