LIFEOFBK

Brian King | Cupertino | Raised & Educated by the Internet. brianking.org

[lifeofbk]

I finished Viewfinder last night. Big Portal energy with a side of beauty and surrealism. This would have absolutely melted my brain in VR. There’s lore and character studies that are completely optional but present if you’re interested.

After a shameful number of hours in TOTK, this was perfect as a quick little reprieve. $25 well spent.

[coervus]

[lifeofbk]

RIP, your highness.

[adaptationsdaily]

Coneheads (1993) Dir: Steve Barron

[reputayswift]

Halloween stores when Margot Robbie wears a cute outfit in a movie

[lifeofbk]

Gonna need a Ken wig/headband.

[charmac]

Same guy, different font

[lifeofbk]

The wall-flip was the funniest possible direction for this gag. The show is perfect.

[glitch1920]

[lifeofbk]

[lifeofbk]

Metaphorically me right now.

[patdevilles]

Judy Gemstone in The Righteous Gemstones 3.06 - For Out of the Heart Comes Evil Thoughts

[lifeofbk]

FYC.

[lifeofbk]

So, the McDonald’s POS training app is something that can be downloaded by any fool with an iPad and a dream. It’s honestly a good lesson in a UX that’s been boiled down and optimized for raw usability.

HOWEVER, they have no goddamn idea how hard the internet would go off if they had a timed mode where you take orders for accuracy and speed. One thousand percent chance it becomes an esport.

Do it, you cowards.

[lifeofbk]

Blessed morning, friends.

[lifeofbk]

[grahamkennedy-deactivated202411]

This is what I was referencing in my last reblog btw. It's literally one of my favourite videos on YouTube.

[lifeofbk]

S-tier Aunty Donna.

[speed-knights]

Ala Moana

[lifeofbk]

Resolve on iPad: we’re having fun.

[lifeofbk]

This sign is specific enough to suggest that there’s an entertaining backstory.

[lifeofbk]

Muir Woods National Monument. A little blown out, a little crushed.

[quotesfrommyreading]

When I’m out with Deaf friends, I put my hearing aid in my purse. It removes any ability to hear, but far more importantly, it removes the ambiguity that often haunts me.

In a restaurant, we point to the menu and gesture with the wait staff. The servers taking the order respond with gestures too. They pantomime “drinks?” and tell us they learned a bit of signs in kindergarten. Looking a little embarrassed, they sign “Rain, rain, go away, come again another day” in the middle of asking our salad dressing choice. We smile and gently redirect them to the menu. My friends are pros at this routine and ordering is easy ― delightful even. The contrast with how it feels to be out with my hearing husband is stunning.

Once my friends and I have ordered, we sign up a storm, talking about everything and shy about nothing. What would be the point? People are staring anyway. Our language is lavish, our faces alive. My friends discuss the food, but for me, the food is unimportant. I’m feasting on the smorgasbord of communication ― the luxury of chatting in a language that I not only understand 100% but that is a pleasure in and of itself. Taking nothing for granted, I bask in it all, and everything goes swimmingly.

Until I accidentally say the word “soup” out loud.

Pointing at the menu, I let the word slip out to the server. And our delightful meal goes straight downhill. Suddenly, the wait staff’s mouths start flapping; the beautiful, reaching, visual parts of their brains go dead, as if switched off.

“Whadda payu dictorom danu?” the server’s mouth seems to say. “Buddica taluca mariney?”

“No, I’m Deaf,” I say. A friend taps the server and, pointing to her coffee, pantomimes milking a cow. But the damage is done. The server has moved to stand next to me and, with laser-focus, looks only at me. Her pen at the ready, her mouth moves like a fish. With stunning speed, the beauty of the previous interactions ― the pantomiming, the pointing, the cooperative taking of our order ― has disappeared. “Duwanaa disser wida coffee anmik? Or widabeeaw fayuh-mow?”

Austin “Awti” Andrews (who’s a child of Deaf adults, often written as CODA) describes a similar situation.

“Everything was going so well,” he says. “The waiter was gesturing, it was terrific. And then I just said one word, and pow!! It’s like a bullet of stupidity shot straight into the waiter’s head,” he explains by signing a bullet in slow motion, zipping through the air and hitting the waiter’s forehead. Powwwww.

Hearing people might be shocked by this, but Deaf people laugh uproariously, cathartically.

“Damn! All I did was say one word!” I say to my friends. “But why do you do that?” they ask, looking at me with consternation and pity. “Why don’t you just turn your voice off, for once and for all?” they say.

Hearing people would probably think I’m the lucky one ― the success story ― because I can talk. But I agree with my friends.

  —  I’m Deaf And I Have ‘Perfect’ Speech. Here’s Why It’s Actually A Nightmare.