Hooray For Me!

I am proud to say I not only finished my 180s, but I also passed my 200 jury charge! I'm on a roll! Let's hope I can keep this up.

As corny as it sounds, I think the thing that has helped me more than anything is confidence. Lately, I have been feeling so much better about the tests. I have always practiced constantly, but I had convinced myself I could not do it, so therefore, I couldn't. Now, I feel like I have the skills and they're coming together and it's resulting in my writing.

Another thing I'm trying is "writing" books. I like to read novels and I always feel guilty about it because it takes time away from my practice. So, I've been setting up my Nook next to my computer and writing the novel while hooked up to realtime. It's a much slower read but I have added so many words to my dictionary that I never wrote before. Also, I feel like hard copy practice improves accuracy, which has never been my strong suit.

The Pay Off!

So, I passed a test! I passed my 180 congressional. That means I only have one, 180 test left, my 4-voice. I have turned in a few that have been really close. So, I hope that means it will be any day now. Then, I'll be done with my 180s forever! I've been practicing more than ever, and working harder than ever, so I know it will pay off soon. I've been going over my briefs and I think it's been helping.

I wish that I had known there were so many awesome briefs when I started school. It's difficult to learn them now, after I've already learned how to write all those things the long way, now I'm trying to go back and break the habit. I hate working harder than I need to, with no additional pay off. Finding out that I'm writing something in four strokes that most people write in one, really irks me. I've been focusing on my accuracy and my briefs and I feel like it's working, slowly but surely. Now, I just need to ride the wave.

So Far, So Good

I'm about a week into the new semester and it's been going pretty well. I've been focusing on my accuracy and I'm watching my untranslated percentage, slowly falling. It's a good feeling. I have also been working on my stamina. I can't tell you how many times (HOUPLTS) I've blown a test at the last second, because I was convinced it had been 5 minutes already. I'm trying to get 15 minutes at a time. It takes a lot of concentration, which is not my strong suit, but I'm really trying.

The best thing about this new semester is that I found another student who lives near me and we're working out a carpool! Her schedule isn't exactly the same as mine, but even if we only carpool a couple days a week, it still helps. Not to sound cliche, but gas prices are crazy.

I'm looking for some practice tips that have worked for other "sloppers" (someone who never drops, but has unreadable nonsense in their notes) I would love any advice people have to offer.

Fresh Year, Fresh Start

Here I am back at school, for a fresh new semester (or trimester as my school does it) I had an amazing Christmas and New Year's with my family and friends back in Massachusetts. I also made significant strides with networking on the east coast for a job when I finish school.

I met with Nancy Varallo of the Varallo group who owns an agency in Worcester Massachusetts. She was AWESOME! I went to her business and met the staff and her husband, the famous Ed Varallo. He was the speed champion for a very long time. Nancy set me up with a borrowed machine and had me sit out at a deposition. Well, the deposition didn't really go forward. The witness didn't show up. Oh well, It was still a great experience. I am so glad I did it.

My goal for this trimester is to finish my 180s completely, and to try to relax more. I really need to stop getting so upset when I miss a test by just a tiny number. I am going to try to think of that as a learning experience for next time and pay careful attention to what I missed. Then, I will practice all the misstrokes I made and get them right on the next test, hopefully.

Christmas Break

I finished the semester! Woohoo! I am leaving to go visit my family in Massachusetts tomorrow. I'll be gone for almost 3 weeks and I'll get to see my family and celebrate Christmas. I have a bunch of fun things lined up and I am very excited to see all the people I love. It is hard living far away from home. I have some amazing friends that live on the easy coast and I miss them a lot. I don't get to be as much a part of people's lives as I wish I could. Some of my friends have babies that I have never even met. It makes me sad to think about it, but it also makes the time I do get to share with them so much more special.

I don't want to deviate too far from the point of this blog. I sent an email to a fabulous contact I made at the NCRA convention in Las Vegas, Nancy Varallo, who has a court reporting business in Massachusetts and I am going to see if I can sit out on a depo or two while I'm there. I haven't heard back from her yet, but hopefully I will.

I'll keep you posted.

Possible Pass?

I turned in a possible pass for my 180 4-voice test today. I don't feel that great about it, though. I found 23 errors myself and I am allowed 23, so, there is no cushion. The mistakes I made were so insignificant they would never matter in real life. For example, I wrote "I spilled mop water on the floor" and it should have read, "I spilled THE mop water on the floor." GRRRRR things like that drive me nuts. They just don't matter, so why should I get penalized for them in school?

I have one more day left after today and then, vacation! I am trying to remain focused. It is hard. I am so burnt out and frustrated. I could use some support from my friends, but they picked now to start completely ignoring me. Are we in high school? What the heck? I'm 30 for Pete's sake! Honestly, I don't have the energy to deal with that. I am leaving on a trip back east to see my family at Christmas and I have a million things to do before I get there.

The school is having a holiday party today. Hopefully it will take my mind off that test that is sitting in the box waiting to be graded. Keep your fingers crossed.

Losing It

I have remained very positive this whole semester at my new school. I have not been upset when I miss a test by just a few tiny things, instead, I have been happy that I am so close. I have not let it bother me when a classmate passes a test that I've been trying so hard to get. I've been happy for them....well, now I'm getting mad. What is wrong with me? Why can't I do it? I work harder than most people. I drive farther, I practice more, I transcribe more tests. What's going on???? When is my time? Maybe I'm just burnt out about the end of the semester and I just need a break.

Everybody learns differently, and apparently I take longer to learn court reporting than most people. It's hard for me to accept that because I've always been the type of person who picks up on things easily, and now I'm not. It makes me feel dumb and I hate it.

Any words of encouragement?

Gotta Power Through

It's almost Christmas and the semester is almost over. It is getting harder and harder to get myself up, dressed, and fight traffic to make it to school. I've been really good. I have hardly missed any days, and when I did, I had excellent reasons, but now I feel like I've earned a day or two of slacking. Didn't I? ugh.... No! I'm so close.

I have a week and a half left and I am trying my hardest to finish strong and pass one more test before the end of the semester. I have come very close on some tests, missing only by punctuation and word endings. I CAN do this. I CAN.

It can be very frustrating watching friends and classmates skip class, show up late, leave early, and then pass a test, while I'm still sitting here working my ass off and making very little progress. I know I'm not suppose to compare myself to others but, how can I not? What is wrong with me? Everyday I feel like I'm on the verge of a breakthrough. Everyday I have moments of clairvoyance and then they pass. Does that happen to anyone else?

Okay enough whining, Helen. Get your ass in gear and do it. Just do it. I have an hour before my next goal test and I'm gonna practice the whole time. Wish me luck.

Hello Again

Hello All!

I'm back. It's been awhile, I know. I'll catch you up. I transferred schools this semester. I am currently working on my 180s and 200s. The finish line is in sight. My decision to transfer was not an easy one. My old school changed their lab schedule and they started to close earlier, cutting down my practice time. The final straw was when they refused to grade a test that I swear I had passed because I clocked it in ONE minute late, and the reason for that is because the two clocks they have in the lab were over four minutes apart. That was sort of it for me. Maybe that's a petty reason, but there you have it.

Anyhoo, I'm now at Downey Adult School. I've been excelling. Their curriculum is set up a little differently. They do speeds every 20 words per minute, so it is a bit of a jump to the next level, but it also means less tests to pass. I have passed my 180 jury charge and come very close to a few4-voice tests but not quite. I've been doing my best to remain positive and motivated, so far so good. The school has live dictation five days a week, which is exactly what I need. The drive all the way there sucks, but I've learned to accept it, as a necessary evil. I hardly even notice it anymore.

I'll write more later but I have to go now.

It's a Miracle!!

I am now finished with 140 words per minute, completely and forever. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord!!

I even passed my 150 wpm jury charge, so maybe, just maybe, I'm on a roll and finally improving. The other explanation is that the teacher for summer school reads slower than my other teacher, which is probably the more likely excuse, but a girl can dream can't she?

Staying positive

I've been pretty negative and discouraged recently. It's really bringing me down. I know I shouldn't be so negative, but it's so easy to get overwhelmed and disappointed when a pass just doesn't happen. My husband is so tired of me moping around all the time. So, I decorated Sexy Lexi (my steno machine) with a few important phrases.

The first is: "You CAN, and you WILL." I have been trying to say this over and over again before a test. I don't quite believe it yet, but it helps to see it in print, they seem just a little more believable.

The second phrase is because of my husband. He's a big fan of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books and in those books, the first rule is: Don't panic. So, I wrote that on my machine too.

I have a tendency to panic over everything. I panic when I'm doing poorly on a test because I feel like an idiot. I panic then I'm doing well on a test and I'm excited, and then that makes me blow it. I panic after I've blown the test because I know I've wasted a perfectly good test. I panic when I'm correcting a test because I see mistakes I wish I hadn't made. I panic when I drive home from school because I feel discouraged at my lack of progress and the traffic stresses me out. I panic when I think about how much more work I still have to do and how long it will take me to do it. Basically, I'm a panicker. (is that word?) It's awful. I always fall to pieces.

So, hopefully looking at the words every time I practice or take a test, will help me feel less worried and more positive. I took a picture of the finished product so you can see what I'm talking about.

How do other people stay positive when there are so many things to be disappointed about?

Slop Vs. Drop

Should I slop, or should I drop? That is a question that seems to face many students, including myself. I used to be a slop girl. I figured if I could get a stroke down, any stroke down, then I could probably figure it out or guess what it was supposed to be later, and I have to tell you that seemed to work pretty well until, all of a sudden, it didn't.

I passed through my 80s, my 90s, my 100s and even all the way through my 130s with messy notes. Then, with 140 as my goal, I could no longer read anything. The small mistakes I was making at 90 wpm turned into huge mistakes when I got to 140. Also, I was always running out of time when I was transcribing my tests. I spent so long guessing what I meant to write that I couldn't get through the whole test and I would turn it in without even proofing it. Shame on me, tsk, tsk, tsk.

I have now really been trying to force myself to drop before I slop. It kills me every time I drop, because I never did that before. But, as I am now learning, dropping is better because it does not reinforce bad behavior. Every time I accepted a sloppy outline and messy transcript, I taught myself, that it was okay to do that. It's not. The bad outlines have now become ingrained in my head and I have to work twice as hard to correct them. It's brutal. I've been sitting in trail class, focusing on correcting bad habits that I've had since theory.

Although it's frustrating and exhausting, it's starting to help. My trail speed notes are beautiful. (My goal speed is full of holes where I dropped words, but what can you do?) The time I spend transcribing has reduced and I've even had time to print my work and proof it on paper rather than a computer screen before I turn it in. I'm optimistic about a big breakthrough happening soon. I'll keep you posted.

We Could All Use a Break

Oh wow! I wish every week could be spring break. Boy, did I need some time off. I spent the week doing all the errands I had been putting off since the beginning of the semester. Poor Wally (my car) had been neglected and abused. The long trip to school everyday was taking a toll on him and me as well. I gave him an oil change, a tire rotation, a car wash, and some other little things. I did the laundry that had been piling up, cleaned my apartment, went grocery shopping, and I even managed to have some fun as well. Although, I'm not completely caught up, I'm feeling a lot less overwhelmed.

Class has been back in session for a week now and I don't have any passed tests to report, but I am trying to change my perspective. I hate feeling so discouraged all the time. I am trying to let things go. If it's over, I have to let it go. I can only move forward so I shouldn't dwell on the past. I need to accentuate the positive and stop focusing on the negative. (is that song or something?)

I got 95% on my 150 4-voice test yesterday. Usually, that would frustrate me, since it was so close and still not a pass but my new focus is accuracy. I read the article "The Plateau" and I know the biggest problem with my writing is my accuracy. I have been trying to teach myself to drop if I can not stroke the word properly. The article talks about how sloppy outlines and misstrokes that don't get corrected will reinforce incorrect poor writing and those bad habits will manifest over time and turn into unreadable disasters. I think that was what was happening to me. That 95% test was way more accurate than previous tests and I didn't have to guess at my notes nearly as much as usually do. Hopefully, this new focus will pay off in the long run. I'll let you know.

Disappointed, Frustrated, and Discouraged

It's been awhile.

I haven't posted anything because I haven't had anything positive to say in quite some time. I STILL have not passed a goal test. I am so close I can taste it. I missed a 150 wpm jury charge by 2 and a 140 congressional by 3. It seems like every single speed test I take is right there, but not quite. I guess being that close should make me happy, but it doesn't. It makes me so disappointed. I'm trying INSANELY hard and I'm still not there yet. Even if I finally do progress, I know it'll only get harder the faster the dictation gets. It is so discouraging. I feel disappointed, frustrated, and discouraged, every second of every day. Is this normal? Do all court reporting students go through this? It's overwhelming.

While I'm transcribing my tests, I feel like I'm on the verge, but I don't know if it's the verge of a breakthrough or a breakdown. If I don't see some payoff for all my hard work soon, I seriously might lose it. I just can't take it anymore. I might throw my machine out the window.

Spring break starts today and I'm hoping the time off will do me some good. Between school and my two jobs, I've been busy every single day for almost 3 months. I haven't had one single day off! I could really use a few days to decompress. I need to teach myself to stop putting so much pressure on myself and stop judging my worth by the amount of speed tests that I pass (which of course is none right now). Any ideas on how I can do that?

Losing motivation

I think I'm losing motivation. I am working insanely hard this semester. I go to school every day and stay for at least 6 hours, I practice dictation tapes, I read back my notes, I study my briefs, and I make notes of words I write incorrectly and practice them again. Yet, I'm still not passing my goal tests. It's really starting to frustrate me. It's making me not want to practice. I know that will only make the problem worse so I am still trying, but my heart isn't in it right now.

Hopefully, this is just a phase and I'll get over it soon. I really need a good test to get me out of this funk. Any motivational words would help right now.

Yes, I'm STILL in school

I'm sure all court reporting students hear the same questions and comments: Are you still in school? How much longer until you're done? It seems like you've been there forever.

Well...yes, I have no idea, and you're right, it does seem like that.

It can be very frustrating. People who are not in court reporting school, just don't understand. I never know what to tell people. I wish I were out of school, but it's not like a regular school subject. There's no set time limit. It takes as long as it takes to get fast enough.

I was complaining to my husband about how I get so tired of people asking me why I'm not done yet and he gave me a very insightful response. He told me to explain to people that it's like becoming a virtuoso on a musical instrument. I think that is exactly right. Who puts a time limit on mastering an instrument? It takes as long as it takes and it takes a lot of practice. I would never have thought of it like that; probably, because I am NOT a musical person whatsoever. My husband is a drummer, and he knows what that is like. So, thank you honey. I'm so glad you get it. It's just another sign that I married the right man.

I'll show you my briefs if you show me yours

Briefing seems to be a controversial subject. A brief is basically an abbreviation. Sometimes a brief can be a shorter way to write a word, but it can also be a way to write a whole phrase. Since I have been going to school 5 days a week to both low and high speed classes, I have gotten a chance to talk to some high speed students about what works for them. The thing I hear most often is: briefs.

When I was a theory student, the teachers told me to be careful not to use too many briefs. I think the reason for this, is that students can use briefs as a crutch; they seem to rely on shortening everything. The problem with this is, that when words come up that the student doesn't have a brief for, they simply cannot write that fast. Also, sometimes it takes a minute to remember a brief that they haven't practiced recently, this hesitation can cost a person the whole test. A tiny hesitation, can ruin everything.

I listened to my teachers and I really don't brief many things, but I think I was wrong. I think the secret is to brief things that come up all the time, and then practice them regularly. Don't brief things that you don't hear at least twice a month, you will forget them and then they will cause hesitation when you do hear them because you'll start trying to remember your brief and stop listing to the dictation.

The high speed students have been sharing their briefs with me. It's amazing, the things they can write in one stroke. Wow, I would never have thought of all these things. A friend of mine taught me how to write, "ANSWER: I do not remember." all in one stroke. What a time saver! It took me 5 strokes to write that before. If I can master all of these I'll be writing 200 in no time.

I also heard about a great website: briefpedia If you want a brief for a phrase or word, just type it in, and the website will provide you with a list of suggestions for briefs, it also lists possible conflicts that might occur with other words. Check it out! This 5 days a week thing, is helping me in lots of ways. I get extra practice, and extra tips.

Today I got 92% on a 150 jury charge. No goal speed passes yet, but hopefully after I master these briefs I'll have a breakthrough. Let me know some of the cool briefs you use. I'll show you mine, if you show me yours.

Long days

One of my goals this semester was to treat school like a full time job. So far. I'd say I've been pretty good. I'm in the lab practicing everyday, and I do all the homework. So far, no goal speed passes. I'm not quite frustrated yet, but if I don't see results soon, I know I will be. I really hope I pass something fast. It's almost 5:00 pm and I'm still at school. I got here at about 9:30 in the morning; that sure feels like full time hours to me, and I still have a thirty mile drive home (and now it's rush hour). Uggh.

Although I haven't passed anything, I had a nice surprise on a test I never expected to even transcribe. As you know, I've been sitting in push (fast) class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The class goes from 150 - 170 wpm and I haven't even passed all my 140s yet, so it's quite a push. I usually treat the 170 and 160 tests as practice and never put much faith or effort into them. Well, I took a 170, 4-voice test and, believe it or not, I got 85% of it!!!! That's amazing! I haven't really come that close to a 140 yet, so on a 170, it's truly unbelievable. Maybe the secret is that I wasn't even stressed or worried about it because I never dreamed it would be good or it could have just been an easy test. (it was probably just an easy one, but still, not too shabby!)

Hopefully, all that high speed practice will pay off soon. I'll let you know

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I have not seen it rain this much for the whole six years I've lived in Los Angeles. It's crazy, really. I thought this was a desert.

I have been driving to school 5 days a week now and other than the horrible rainy commute, it's been going well. I've gotten a lot of work done. As I mentioned last week, I've been sitting in what they call a "push" class (it's faster than a goal speed.) I transcribed a 150 wpm 4-voice test and a 160 wpm congressional test, both of which I got over 75% of! That's a big deal to me considering I haven't even passed a 140 wpm test in either of those subjects. On the 150 4-voice, I didn't miss a single speaker! The story is a little different with my "goal" tests. I'm not that close, but I do feel that I'm improving. I think some of it is nerves, but some of it is my lack of skills.

The rain is effecting my performance a little. My fingers get cold and then they don't move as fast as they normally do. I wonder if working reporters run into this problem while on the job. It's frustrating for sure. My brain says, "do it", but my fingers just can't. I wish I could wear gloves, but I think they would just slow me down even more.

I worked so hard this week, I'm feeling lazy right now. Would it be really bad for me to just leave and go watch a movie? I think I'm gonna. Shh, don't tell on me. I'll be right back in the lab working extra hard first thing Monday morning to make up for this lack of enthusiasm today.

Another drop in the bucket

My teacher gave us the analogy of having a bucket in your brain. Every time you practice or show up to class, you put a drop in the bucket. Eventually, as the bucket fills you start to say, "I THINK I can do this". Then, that bucket will fill up and overflow and then the water starts to drip into another bucket in your heart, as that buckets fills, you start to say "I BELIEVE I can do this". After this bucket fills, it over flows into a third bucket in your gut, after that third bucket fills you start to say, "I KNOW I can do this" and that's ultimately where you need to be.

Today, I got up early, drove the 30 miles to school, practiced before class, and then attended class. I'd say that's worth a few drops; wouldn't you? I'm even staying at school after class for a little while to do a little more practicing.

I THINK I can do this!!