Another Semester Finished

Whenever a semester comes to an end I have mixed emotions about it. On one hand, I'm glad I stuck it out another semester and I'm proud of myself for getting through it, but on the other hand, it's just more time that I've been in school and I still don't have my certification. I feel like I'll be in school forever.

We had an end-of-the-semester/holiday party. It went really well. Celena got so many things donated so we were able to have a great raffle. There was way too much food which always a good thing at a party and the cake said Happy Holidays in steno. I didn't win anything in the raffle, but it was still a good time.

Christmas is approaching pretty rapidly and I'm never prepared. My mother and sister are coming to LA to see me this year instead of me going to them like normal. I'm pretty excited about it. We're going to go to Disneyland on Christmas day! I hope I at least have a little time to practice this winter break or I'll be sorry when the spring semester starts.

Victory at last!

I know, I know, it's been forever since I updated this thing. Honestly, I don't have very good excuses. Basically, I got really sick of writing that I still didn't pass a test. Well, no more. I passed a 5-minute 140 wpm, jury charge!! It only took me the whole semester. Eighteen errors are allowed for the whole transcript in order to maintain that 97.5% accuracy. Well, I made exactly 18 errors. Not amazing, but I'll take it. Thank the Lord. I have been getting so frustrated with myself, I don't know what would have happened if it didn't happen soon. I still have to pass a 4-voice and a congressional, but at least it's a good start. I have one more week of school, so maybe I'll get one more in there. We'll see.

The new kitten seems to have made herself quite at home. I named her Puppy, 'cause that's what I really wanted. She is very sweet and very rambunctious. She likes to eat wires though, which is bad. So far, she's eaten my cell phone charger, my laptop charger, and the mouse to my laptop. I think I'm understanding how she ended up out on the street. She is getting mighty expensive. I'd better hurry up with the court reporting thing and make some money.

The Float

Busiest week ever!

I spent every spare minute this whole week building the float. I did get a lot of help so thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone who helped out. There were a few do-overs and some tense moments. Plus, I burned my fingers really badly on a glue gun, which does not make court reporting any easier. All that aside, the end result was amazing.



The judging was on Saturday. We were voted Best Design, not best over-all like I had hoped (we were robbed I tell you) but Best Design is pretty darn good. After the judging there was a luncheon, and after the luncheon there was a football game. It was a really long, really exhausting, but fun day.

After all this, I FINALLY got home pretty late to find a stray kitten in the parking lot of my apartment complex. I had seen her a few times before and I didn't want her to turn feral and get mean or starve so, I spent over an hour trying to get her to come to me. She finally did, but then I was scared she would be sick and might get my cat sick so I was up half the night worried about them both. I took her to the vet in the morning and except for a mild case of ear mites and the fact that she's really scrawny, she's healthy. She is super cute and super cuddly. So, now I have ANOTHER cat and still no dog. It seems like my lot in life. I may actually give the kitten to my mother when I go home at Thanksgiving if she doesn't get along with Phoenix. We'll see. She needs a name though.

I know this post had almost nothing to do with court reporting, but I had to get it all out there. I'll let you know how these poor burned fingers do on the tests. Let's hope I heal fast.

We won the mock rally!

The mock rally was this week and I'm proud to announce, We Won!!! I got to be a judge, and obviously I'm a bit biased, but there were about 10 judges so my vote wasn't the only one counted. It was a fair outcome. Here's the real Monica and the mock Monica. I hope you can tell the difference.




The day was really fun, and I even got a little work done. I typed up a 5-minute, 130 jury charge and I passed it. It wasn't a 140, but I least I'm no worse than I was before.

Homecoming is approaching very quickly and I'm a little nervous about my float, but I think it's starting to come together. I'll be sure to post a picture when it's done.

I've been practicing a really good take of a 140 jury charge. I'll continue with the same take this whole week until I get it perfectly and hopefully, it will help with the real 140 jury charge test on Friday.

Busy Like a Bee

Please forgive me for letting so much time pass. I have been so busy lately that I don't even no which way is up. To catch you all up on what's been going on, I passed a one-minute 140 test. But, before you get too excited, it was a congressional test, so it only had to be at 95%. I was at 96% so I passed, but if it had been any other kind of test I would not have. Small victory I suppose. Now, I just have to get a whole five-minute test and then I'll really have something to talk about. Here's hoping.

The club is busy, busy, busy. Homecoming is just around the corner and I have two roles this year. I am the reigning homecoming queen so I have to judge the floats and attend the new queen events as the reigning title-holder. Plus, I am the club vice president so I have design and be in charge of building an awesome float for the parade. That way, when I vote for it, I don't look too biased. I'm swamped. Our new queen candidate is Monica. She is a theory student and has stepped up to be the next homecoming queen. (Bless her) If she wins, which she will, the court reporting club will have won four years in a row! So far, Monica has already been voted into the homecoming court. (That is the top seven girls out of all the ones that signed up, I believe ther were about 26) I know this whole thing probably sounds silly to most people, but it's really just for fun. On Thursday, there is a mock rally where every girl on the court has a guy "mock" her. This consists of the guy dressing in her clothes and pretending to be her while he is judged and everyone laughs. Aaron (bless him too) has graciously volunteered to mock Monica. It's gonna be hilarious. I'm hoping that as the reigning queen, I can be one of the judges. I'll let you know how we all do.

I'm really hoping I can get everything done. I don't want neglect my speed training, of course, because it's the reason I'm doing all this in the first place. My husband, as I mentioned, works on movies. He just got a job in Michigan so he will be leaving this week to go there for a month. As sad as I am to see him go, (which I really, really am) I'm hoping I can use that time to really focus on getting everything done and passing a full five-minute test. I've been practicing with Lexi and my handy gadget Celena told me about. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Until next time.

Peaks, Valleys, and Plateaus

No. I’m not talking about actual land masses. I’m talking about court reporting progress. Last year I was climbing peaks, I was going up and up when it came to speeds. I went from 100, to 110, to 120, to 130 without much time passing. But, much like the land mass, every peak has a top. Unfortunately, I seemed to have reached the top of that peak. Like in nature, I had to go down the peak to the valley, and I felt like I was slower than I was before. I had to work twice as hard just to get back to where I was. Luckily, I’m pretty sure I forged my way through the valley. However, I seemed to have reached a plateau. I’m consistent, but not improving. How long is the average plateau? It’s frustrating, but hopefully, there’s a new peak to climb in my near future without any valleys ahead of it.

Perhaps I’m being too metaphoric, but this whole process is a journey for me so it only makes sense to think of it in that way.

Here’s too my next peak.

A great gadget

Celena recently turned me on to a great gadget every court reporting student should have. It's a tape player that has varying speeds.



I got it on Amazon

It's great for practice. You can practice a take and then, when it gets too hard to keep up, just turn the speed down to go over the fingering. Then, turn it back up when you learn it. Eventually, when you get the whole thing you can turn it up even more and do it faster. Of course, I haven't gotten to that point, but maybe soon. I'm gonna try to get to class early every day so I can listen to a few takes right before I have to take a test.

Thanks, Celena!

More fails than passes

I'm trying to accept the fact that in court reporting school, there are always going to be more failed tests than passed tests. I'm sure it's like this for everyone. It's hard because throughout my life, I've always been a fast learner and I can pick up new things without too much effort. I know it drove a lot of people crazy, but that's just how I am. In school, I could get decent grades and only do a minimal amount of work, kind of a jack-of-all-trades, you know.

In court reporting I feel like I try harder than I have at almost anything I've done in my life and yet I'm not progressing very fast. With this much effort I feel like I should have been done ages ago. Grrrrr, school can be so frustrating.

I got 96% on ANOTHER 1-minute, 140 4-voice, test. I'm going to keep telling myself, "More fails than passes, more fails than passes, more fails than passes."

On a lighter note, the theme for the court reporting club's homecoming float is Cinderella. We're going to make a pumpkin carriage! I'm pretty excited about it, but I'm also anxious because I have no idea how to build a pumpkin carriage for a parade of floats. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Failure stinks!

Recently, people have been telling me I'm too hard on myself. I suppose there is truth to this. I have been getting very frustrated when I don't pass tests or when I make mistakes. I'm not sure where this stems froms but it reminds me of something I heard almost ten years ago.

When my brother graduated from college, UPENN, my whole family drove from Massachusetts down to Philly. Like most college graduations, mine excluded..grrrr,(I'm not bitter or anything) they had a guest speaker. It was John McCain. And although I don't completely agree with his politics, I can't deny that he is an incredible man, who has led and extraordinary life.

During his speech, he said something I will never forget. He said, "Many people tell you not to be afraid of failure, but I'm telling you this: Be afraid of failure. Failure stinks!" He went on to say that we can learn from failure and you shouldn't let one failure ruin all ventures you make in your lives, but that we should always strive for perfection, and try to eliminate the possiblity of failure. He also said that it is okay to be upset when you fail at something, as long as you acknowledge that you gave it your best and strive to do better in the future.

I think that is why I'm so hard on myself. I'm afraid of failure, yet in court reporting school a little failure is inevitable. I suppose I just need to learn from it and strive to do better in the future.

But it's okay for me to be upset and hard on myself sometimes, John McCain said so.

Running in place

Am I just running in place? I feel like no matter what I do, I do the same on my tests. I got 96% on my 1-minute 140, 4-voice test. I know that is pretty good but I can't help feeling discouraged. I'm not improving. I have gotten 96% on quite a few 1-minute, 140 tests but I just can't seem to pass them. The mistakes I make are so minor, I know that if it were a real transcript, no one would even notice them. Sometimes I write "this" instead of "that" or "a" instead of "the". It's really annoying. Why do I make mistakes like that? Is it that I just don't hear properly? Or maybe I'm trailing and trying to remember what the teacher says and my brain puts the wrong words in. Whatever it is, I wish I would stop doing it. I want to improve. I really want to. It's hard because when I get frustrated, I don't want to practice because I'm mad at myself, and mad at Lexi, and mad at school. When I do well, I like school better, and I like Lexi, and I want to practice more. Does this happen to anyone else? I've just got to power through it I suppose.

Anyway, big club meeting tomorrow, plus more tests. Wish me luck on both.

Club news

This may not be the most interesting blog post, but I'm really excited about it.

I'm very excited about the club this semester. I mentioned that I was the vice president of the court reporting club. My friend, Celena, is the president, Kristal is the secretary, and Anne is the treasurer. Celena managed it get a bunch of stuff donated to the club. It's pretty amazing. She got pizza for the meeting, prizes for students who come, and a free stay at the Sheraton Hotel to raffle off. She even got a free writer for one lucky student to use the whole time they're in school. Anne is getting all squared away with the money and Kristal is going to get t-shirts made for us to sell as a fundraiser. (Any suggestions as to what they should say?) I just made a handout for our first meeting with all of the fun stuff we want to do. We're gonna have two guest speakers! I'm pretty excited about it.

Yes, I know I'm a dork.

Besides the club, I set my machine up right after I got home from school on Friday and I've practiced a few times this even though I worked long shifts every day this weekend. My motivation is improving. Hopefully, my speed will too. I'm hoping I pass at least a one-minute 140 test on Monday. Here's to hoping.

Laboring and Writers

Sorry I haven't added in a few days. I work two jobs so sometimes I get pretty backed up. I have been going to school, of course, but adding to the blog has been hard. On Friday in class, we did jury charge. I had only five mistakes on the one-minute test. Unfortunately, that's not 97.5%; it's 96%. Not bad though. But again, the five-minute was a different story. I guess I need to work on my stamina.

Yesterday was labor day. I worked. I suppose laboring on labor day is not that awful, but it does remind me that hopefully soon I won't have to work on labor day because I'll be a court reporter. I didn't get a chance to practice yesterday, but I am on my machine now so, that's good. Normally, I have class on Mondays so I don't want to go too long without being on this machine.

My writer is noisy when the paper goes through it. Does anyone know how to make it quieter? I write on a Stentura 8000 LX. I bought it on eBay and besides the noisy paper thing, it works great. I named her Lexi (because she's an LX). I would recommend old Lexi to someone looking. The hookups are a little outdated but they sell adapters for things like that, so, no biggy. What machines are you all writing on? Any problems? Any praises? Anybody having the same paper noise I am? I saw a demonstration of Stenograph's new writer, the Diamante. It's pretty freaking cool; it doesn't use paper so I'm sure that sound is gone. Plus, it has all the bells and whistles. Maybe someday, I'll have one. I'd better practice some more if that's gonna happen.

That's all for now.

A minor accomplishment, but an accomplishment all the same

At my school, when a student passes their 130 exams, and moves up to 140 goal speed, they now have to start four-voice testimony. Four-voice testimony and I don't have the best relationship. We've definitely had a rocky start. Before I reached the 140 class, the most I had to do was Q and A; there is only ever two people at the most to take down. Q and A isn't so bad because if I miss a Q or an A sign change on my machine, I can usually figure out where I missed it and and can fix it in the transcript, but on a four-voice testimony, it's not so clear. I can't cheat by putting them in later. It's also hard because there's not really four people talking during the test; it's just my teacher with a light board. When I get nervous, I look at my hands. During a four voice test, I'm usually nervous so I have been really trying to force myself to look at the lights and not at my hands, but it's a hard habit to break.

So, the question we all want to know is: How did I do? Well, I got over 87% of it, which is only okay as tests go. But I'm really proud of two things: The first is that I didn't miss a single speaker, I had all the sign changes in there. And the second is that, I made a huge mistake in the middle of the test, but I didn't give up like a usually do. I let it go, and finished strong! Hopefully I'll do even better on the next one.

Totally unrealated, but it's my husband's birthday today. Happy birthday, honey!

A Cascade Failure

Today in class was jury charge. Jury charge is when the judge speaks directly to the jury. It's usually a lot of instructions and whatnot. I sort of like them because they can be quite repetitive.

Anyway, my teacher started out with a one-minute test. One-minute tests don't really count for anything but they're a good warm-up and they make you feel good when you do well on them. So, I took my one-minute, 140 jury charge, and I did pretty well. I had almost 96% accuracy! So, one would think I would do about the same on the real test. But, when it came time to take the full five-minute test, it was a totally different story.

I had what I call a "cascade failure". I start off okay, but as soon as I start to fall behind, or drop something, or make a mistake of any kind,, I just sort of "give up". I don't mean to, it just happens. I drop one word and instead of letting it go, and writing everything else, I miss the whole sentence, and then the next and then I start hitting the wrong keys and the whole test is useless. That first mistake ruins everything. I couldn't even tell you what my score was, because it wasn't worth transcribing. I just threw it away.

How do other people deal with their first mistake?

It's like I either have a really good test or a down right pitiful test. There is no medium. I'm sure it's all in my head but, I don't know how to get out of my head. It's weird. Unfortunately for me, cascade failures are becoming much too common for me. They are happening more often than not.

The thing that makes me feel better is that I did so well on the one-minute test. If I can get that close to a 140 for one-minute there's no reason I can't do that for five minutes; right? I just need to keep telling myself that over and over agin. I will try again and keep you posted. Wish me luck.

'cause we all need a laugh

My mother emailed this to me. I figured we could all use a good laugh. And no, I didn't write this on my machine. If I had it would have said Q and A not WITNESS and ATTORNEY, but copy and paste is so easy and I'm going to be doing homework today anyway, so, I will get some practice. Enjoy!

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now
Published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, 'Where am I, Cathy?'
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
__________________________________________

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: He's twenty, much like your IQ.
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you shitting me?
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: getting laid
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male.
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
__________________________________________

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
__________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 pm.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.
_________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question?
________________________________________


And the best for last:


ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.


See, court reporting can be fun.

congressional tests and club officers

Here I am day two, and I've decided that I'm going to write this entire blog on my steno machine whenever possible; it will give me a good reason to set everything up. I can be so lazy. Sometimes, I don't practice just because I don't want to take my machine out of my bag. How pathetic is that? I feel like I'm well intentioned but I have no follow through. I tell myself I'm going to practice a certain thing as soon as I get home, but after the hour drive, I always do something else. But now, I'm sitting here on my machine, I'm writing pretty slowly, but at least it's a start.

My cat is sitting here next to me staring at me. I don't think she has any idea what I'm doing. It must be nice to be a cat...I digress.

Yesterday, I mentioned different kinds of tests. Today in class we did a congressional test. Basically, it's a test that consists of a speech to, or by congress or the house of reps or the president or anything like that. It usually has very large words that seem to come very fast. There are good things about this kind of test, though. The main one is that only one person talks so I don't have to worry about putting a speaker change in there. Plus, California only requires congressional tests to be 95% accurate. It doesn't seem like a big jump from 97.5, but, I assure you, it is. Despite these two things, I did not pass my 140 test today. I didn't even pass the 130 test today. (Remember those days I told you about? Today was one.)

What I did manage to do today was meet with the club officers. I am now the new vice president of the court reporting club at Cerritos college. I'm pretty excited about it because the other officers are all friends of mine. In the past, most club officers have been high-speed students but, this year us mid-speed girls are gonna give it a go.

We are going to organize fund-raising and try to setup some fun things all the students can do. I think it's important to have a support system so, I really want to make sure everyone one knows that everyone else is behind them. It's easier to stick to personal goals that way. We also want to get some great guest speakers. Any ideas on who we should get to speak?

I'm still new to this whole blogging thing so it may take me a little while to get everything working. Please bear with me and let me know if there is something I should be doing that I'm not.

That's all for now, let me now how you feel about congressional tests. I used to say they were my favorite, but after today, I'm not so sure.

Introductions and Explanations

Hi! I'm Helen and court reporting school is kicking my butt. I thought that blogging about it would help keep me focused, hopefully. So, here's to hoping...

I started court reporting school at Cerritos College in California three years ago, against my mother's advice. She said that my strength was my social skills and that sitting quietly listening to what people were saying was not the best idea for me. Perhaps she's right, but I do really enjoy it... when I have a good day. It's weird some days I can write really well and others, I'd be lucky to get 50% of it down.

My current goal speed is 140 wpm. I still don't know how I managed to pass all my 130s, but I did.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the testing procedure it goes like this: The teacher dictates for five minutes at a specific speed. The students have their trusty machine set up in front of them and desperately pound on them, trying to get every word, punctuation mark, and change of speaker. Then, the students turn in their paper notes that came out of their machines and the teacher stamps them. The students then take those notes and have an hour to type them into a transcript. Some students, like me, use CAT (computer aided transcription) software to help them. This instantly translates steno into english which may sound easy except the software has to be "taught" how to translate all the words correctly, a process which seems never ending. After the transcript is produced, the student must correct it against the recording of the test. In California, to pass a test it must be at least 97.5% accurate. If a word is plural and you didn't pluralize it, it's wrong, if you put a period where a question mark should go, it's wrong. If, the defense attorney is speaking and you labeled it as prosecution, it's wrong, plus that counts even more so it's really minus 5!!! Basically, a transcript has to be perfect. Then, after you pass each kind of test (more on that later) in a specific speed and you start to feel good about yourself, they make you do it faster. It can be quite over whelming. I'd love to hear how some of you feel about it.