introducing ourselves

[Claire Stanley]

I think we have another new member as well. Amber, do you want to
introduce yourself?
Claire

[Amber Attaway]

Hi. I am so sorry I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Amber
Attaway. I am from Springfield, Missouri and I am a senior in high
school. I am taking 4 college level classes this year so this school
year is kind o fkicking my butt. I am glad to be able to graduate with
13 college credit hours, though, so I'm just trying to make it through
the year. My parents live in a town about 25 miles away and pay rent
for me to stay in Springfield. I live in a house with 2 roommates, so
I am kind of on my own. My parents come see me a lot and help me with
shopping and many other things, but this is mainly an opportunity for
me to see what I need improvement on regarding indepdent living. Other
than my college classes, I have classes in O&M and Daily living skills
with an awesome teacher who is both a certified TVI and a certified
O&M instructor. This is my first year living in Springfield and going
to this school as well as living kind of on my own. I feel like living
close to home but independently is an awesome happy medium between
moving out and living at home. I am 17 years old and will be 18 in
March. I love to meet new people around the country as well as
locally. In my spare time, I love to listen to music of all types but
especially R&B and some hip-hop. I have twitter, and anyone is welcome
to follow me at @missanonymous94. I also am on the phone a lot, even
more so thanthe computer. I text and talk to people all the time so if
anyone woul dlike my number for any reason, whether it be to ask a
question, to help me out with something, or even just to get to know
me, feel free to ask. I am excited to be invited to the group and hope
to learn and teach a lot.

[Caitlin Hernandez]

What a great intro, Amber! It's great to have you. Which college
classes are you taking? Sounds like you have quite the work load! Are
you looking at colleges for next year, or what are your plans?
Thanks for joining and writing to the list; we're all excited to have
you and to get to know you!

Best,
Caitlin

[Claire Stanley]

Amber, that is awesome. What a great experience. What college classes
are you taking? Let us know if you have any questions about living on
your own, college classes, etc. We're happy to have you on the list
serve.
Claire

On 11/14/11, Amber Attaway <missanon...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Kim, Tiffany J]

Hi Amber,

It's great to meet you. Living on your own must be a rewarding and challenging experience. I commend your courage and initiative! The college classes sound like quite the workload but you'll have a headstart when you begin attending in the future. Glad to have you on the list.

Sincerely,
Tiffany Kim
(805) 760-6835
tki...@calstatela.edu
E-mail is not secure, may not be read every day, and should not be used to submit sensitive or confidential information.

[Amber Attaway]

Thank you. I agree that it's good that I'll have a whole semester out
of the way when i graduate. i'm glad to get the hard classes out of
the way first. Also, I forgot to mention that I have participated in
the Braille Challenge for the last 6 years and have made it to the
finals 3 times. I have never placed or won at the finals but enjoyed
every trip and hope that I can make it to finals again for my senior
year.

[kwak...@aol.com]

Hey Amber,
Nice to meet you.
I wrote an intro of myself, but I am Miso Kwak.
Impressive, that you are taking 4 college classes.
I am taking AP US history, AP Chemistry, algebra2, Spanish2 honors,
English 3 honors, and band but the work is just so much.
Junior year... so SAT too..
I just signed up for January SAT yesterday. It's my first time taking
the real SAT reasoning.
Please, anyone, give me any info on tips and resources regarding the
SAT.
I use Question of the Day on COllege Board and it seems like my school
district will buy me some practice books, but it's a bit stressful and
anxious.
Miso

[Caitlin Hernandez]

Hi Miso,
Good luck on the SATs. With your AP work-load, I'm sure you're already
well-prepared. But practice tests are great. Maybe get a tutor for
your weaker subjects. Also, make sure your accommodations (Braille,
etc.) are firmly in place, and that you have a contact person if
something goes wrong.
Again, best of luck!

Yours,
Caitlin

[Kim, Tiffany J]

Hi Amber,

Wow, thrice in the finales? That's wonderful! I hope you'll take a grand prize home this upcoming year. That would be an honor. I know competition is fierce, but all that college work will prepare you for the Challenge, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and hope we'll meet at the next event!

[Kim, Tiffany J]

Hi Miso,

Ah, those SATs, I remember them being rather stressful for me too. I know the format of the test has changed since I took it but to prepare, I used
http://www.number2.com

I found it to be relatively accessible, except for the geometry practice portion when figures were shown. I don't know of any screenreader that is able to tackle geometrical shapes, but it presents questions in the different sections, has a vocabulary builder, and will go at your pace. You might find it useful.

Are you a member of Bookshare? I believe they have some good test preparation material, if not for the SAT, then the AP exams for certain. I remember those being taken in May so you have a while yet to prepare for them, but it's never too early to start, right?
If I think of other resources, I'll let you know!

Sincerely,
Tiffany Kim
(805) 760-6835
tki...@calstatela.edu
E-mail is not secure, may not be read every day, and should not be used to submit sensitive or confidential information.

-----Original Message-----
From: braille-alumni-c...@googlegroups.com on behalf of kwak...@aol.com
Sent: Mon 11/14/2011 7:53 PM
To: braille-alumni-c...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: introducing ourselves

[kwak...@aol.com]

Caitlin, I know how to read Braille music, but not super good at it
since it's not available all the time.
I usually learn by ear.
I used to play piano and violin, but I stopped both.
Flute is quite competitive, but really enjoyable.
Marching band is time consuming but definitely awesome!
If I don't have band, I might not survive school day. haha
Tiffany, thank you for the link. I will check it out.
Yes, Bookshare is one of the best websites I know.
It has some SAT prep materials and quite plenty of AP materials; also
they put books up if I request in advance, diagrams and other visual
aspects are not shown so it's not 100% good (especially because I am
studying chemistry and not very strong with geometry) but I find
Bookshare very useful.
Thank you for your feedbacks.
Miso

[Claire Stanley]

Miso, we have another Braille Challenge alumnus who is a music voice major who is amazing at Braille music. So if you ever want a connection to help you in that area, let us know and we can hook you up. I know she had to do a lot of fighting at her university to get all the music put into braille but she stood up and advocated for herself and is amazing now at braille music.

Sent from my iPhone

[Claire Stanley]

Good luck with the SAT, Miso. I'm with Tiffany. I don't have fond memories either. But it sounds like you're super on top of it. Smart to take it your junior year so you can take it a second time if you want. That's actually what I did too and it really provided me with a good sense of mind.

Sent from my iPhone

> <winmail.dat>

[kwak...@aol.com]

HI everyone,
A long story short...
There is an English packet that I need to get it accessible by Nov.
28th.
It's quite lengthy.
There is no one who can just sit down and type it for me.
It's a pdf file and my screen reader is not reading its contents.(I use
a Korean made screen reader so I don't know if JAWS or Windows Eye
might read it)
I think my TVI can type it up but I was wondering if it's possible to
just convert it into doc file without typing it.
Just in case, I am attaching the file.
FYI, It has images occasionally.

[Amber Attaway]

Hi. If you open the document in Adobe Acrobat, go to the file menu by
hitting alt f. Then, go down arrow until you hear Save as text. It
will be a .txt file, but it will still open in word and eliminate all
the images. If that doesn't work, attach it and I'll do it and attach
the text copy.