The first day

There are two reasons why I will write this blog: I want to keep a record of this unusual journey, and I want to see the progress which 6 to 9 months of intensive "ninja-like" training will bring about.

Ruston Louisiana is not New York City. This sounds obvious, as geographically they are indeed two different places, but it is not only location which makes these two places different. Ruston is a slow-moving sort of town, friendly, everyone drives, no one walks; and what ever your heart desires, exists in drive-through form. And for the curious minds, drive through form does not necessarily translate to being expedient. This is a college town, with LA tech being the town's life force. This is a place were Jesus is not a word which makes people cringe, and prayer is common. So far, this seems to be a sweet town.

What I am doing here in Ruston, has often been described to friends and family as Ninja training. I will not leave here a couple of months from now with the ability to climb walls or catch throwing stars between my teeth, instead, I'm here to learn how to do everything that up to now has been done under the dependency of light, in complete darkness.

This means that I will travel, cook, clean, dine, read,swim, climb, canoe, in short, live every day from 8 am to 5 pm, with out the use of sight.

Why am I doing this?

Glaucoma is one of those diseases which can be treated, but not eradicated. It affects the eyes by making the ocular pressure too high or too low. Either way, the chance for total blindness is always looming about. One's sight can go gradually throughout their lifetime, or it can quickly vanish in a period of weeks, or days: A frightening thought really, unless you happen to be well, someone who can function in complete darkness.

That is the goal here. I was born with Glaucoma, and slowly, my vision has deteriorated. The concern which I have is not weather or not I can keep the vision I have or improve it, which would be sweet, the thought I am concerned with is having the skills and ability to function as someone who is totally blind.

The premise is simple, If I can function as a totally blind person, there really wouldn't be much to functioning as someone with some useful vision. In other words, Why do something half-assed which is based on half-assed vision, when you can do something correctly using more efficient alternative techniques which do not rely on your half-assed vision?

So here I am in Ruston Louisiana, taking on this training.

I've met most of my fellow students and tomorrow I get a housemate.

What where the highlights of today?

1. Ruston is not NY. an intake session which would normally take about 1 hour in NY, takes about 2 in Ruston.
2. Old friends, "good", old friends will swing by their friends job while they are doing your intake. They will hug, and share some heartwarming moments as you sit and strangely enough, understand that this 2 hour intake summary, is waisting no one's time or patience.
3. Strangers say hi to each other at K-mart.
4. I am really looking forward to taking on these classes.
5. Walking around without the use of sight, paints the landscape in sound, not images. I am confident in my goal, confident in what I must do, but shaky at walking about in the dark.