Le Tour de Dyslexia: Goals

I like to think that this tour is a gift from me, to myself. All school year my days have been thrown out the metaphorical window. Most of my weekdays have been the exact same thing: wake up, breakfast, work (my job), class, practice, dinner, homework, sleep. I find that when my days are so similar, looking back at them I cannot tell them apart. This is no way to spend one's life (especially if your life might end sooner than expected because you contract Swine Flu [how's that for a topical reference]). But really, life is short and fast, too short and fast to let your days uneventfully pass by in a blur. School does that to people, though. I'm not saying that it suppresses all potential for unique daily experience, but it definitely promotes repetitive and tightly scheduled days, weeks, months, and years (I actually went on to type a lot more in the mental direction that I was headed, but then I realized that I was ranting on a subject that should be left for another day).

My hope is that this tour will promote unique experiences that I can look back on and distinctly remember, actually Living each day rather than floating through it. I do understand, though, that I cannot just ride my bike from point to point, clap my hands together, and say "Boy did I just improve my overall life experience." I have to actively peruse things that my usual passive personality would not. In order to help me do that, I am going to post a list of goals that I would like meet during the tour, in hopes of being held accountable by my many readers when I return. I have not had much time to put a lot of thought into these, but I will edit the list if I get any more good ideas. So here they are.

Tour Goals:

• First and foremost, I am on the tour to spread awareness of the Dyslexia that I think I have, hence the title of the tour.
• Hear at least 5 stories from strangers.
• Swim in a body of water, leaving the conventional cover for my privates on land. (I'm talking about swimming naked here if you arn't quite catching what I'm tossing at ya)
• Eat at least 3 Mountain Man sandwiches (the best breakfast sandwiches known to man and only found at deli in New Paltz, NY. "ONE FRIED EGG, COUNTRY SAUSAGE, HOT PEPPER JACK CHEESE, KETCHUP AND MOUNTAIN MAN SAUCE ON A HARDROLL". It's all about the Mountain Man Sause.)
• Get scared, like really fucking scared. (I have only a few times been honestly scared for my life but on these few occasions I have come to a significantly higher realization that I was in fact alive. If you understand me, you understand me, and if you don't you don't)
• Trust my body. (This will most likely be accomplished with the "getting really fucking scared" goal)
• Stand on the very tippy tip of Cape Cod.
  
• Drink a moderate amount of beer at the local establishments.
• Drink more than a moderate amount of beer on 1-3 occasions.
  
• Have a lobster in Maine while at the same time try to "get into" wine again. (This is just a side note but the two most amazing things in life, in my opinion, are food and the opposite sex. Since I will be dirty and smelly the whole tour I am looking forward to having a lot of good, local food on the trip)

This is all I have for now. I encourage my many readers to create an account so they can comment on my posts, but if you don't want to do that just message me on Facebook, with suggestions for my goals.

Le Tour de Dyslexia: Basic Information

As everyone should know, since I mentioned it like maybe 4 times, I am going on a bike tour at the beginning of the summer. Actually, it is not just I, it is Lexi, Dan, and I, who will be going on the tour. We plan on devoting about two weeks for getting from Newark to Portland, Maine, which will probably end up being around 500 miles. The exact route is still in progress (we only have up to day 3.5 completed). The general plan is to ride up through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York and then cut East to the coast of Massachusetts where we will ride the shore North into New Hampshire and then Maine. To get back, we are taking a train from Portland to Wilmington. I have not been updating my blog a lot, but this will probably keep it going strong, at least until school is over. I intend on updating it with the official route and landmarks, gear lists, and pictures. Since I don't have any of that stuff ready as of now I'll just cover the basics today.

For those who don't know what bike touring is, as I didn't even know six months ago, it is basically going on a long bike ride with everything you need to survive with you (tent, clothes, food, etc.). Below is an example of what a moderately loaded touring bike looks like.

There are many options when it comes to the amount of stuff you bring with you on a tour. There is what is referred to as "Credit Card Touring", which means you pack very little and buy things as they are needed, such as food and hotel rooms. Then there is "Light and Fast Touring", which is self sustaining in that you bring your shelter and cooking supplies with you but you try to keep the weight of your load down by packing moderately. The other option for touring is to just put as much on your bike as you can.

For our tour, we will probably be somewhere in between "Light and Fast" touring, and pack whatever you can touring. Not to get into the Equipment List that is to come but we will be bringing tents, sleeping bags, cooking supplies, some food, and a moderate amount of clothes.

I Mean, It Makes Sense

Something that I saw on the internet a while ago put an idea into my head, and yesterday I followed up on that idea. I came up with the title of this blog, "The Mumbler" because it was brought to my attention this year, more so than in the past, that a lot of what I say is incoherent. Often I don't even catch my mumblings but sometimes, especially when I am trying to explain something, I can tell, and so can everyone else, that I am having trouble expressing my ideas. I've had a tough time trying reason out why I am so orally inept when my thoughts, in my opinion, are far more intelligent. As a future teacher, if I gave my thoughts an A+ then my words would get a C. The proposal that I am about to make may shed some light on my situation although I admit it may ultimately be faulty. My proposition may seem like a stretch in order to excuse my poor ability to expresses myself, but I think most of my readers will agree with the connections that I make.

I propose that I have a minor case of dyslexia, "It is [...] very possible for a person to have only mild symptoms of dyslexia."(2) After researching on the internet, I found that there are many symptoms of Dyslexia but not all have to be met in order for a person to be successfully diagnosed with it. I think that I carry enough of the symptoms to base a fairly strong argument on it. I also think that many of the people who have spent time with me would be able to verify most of these symptoms, although not all. Here are the symptoms or quotes from websites that I think I exhibit followed by my further explanation of them.

"Difficulty putting thoughts into words; speaks in halting phrases; leaves sentences incomplete; stutters under stress; mispronounces long words, or transposes phrases, words, and syllables when speaking." (1)

I think this is the most obvious physical symptom that I exhibit, as anyone who lives with me can attest to. I can remember a handful of times when this has occurred as I recalled stories or something I had seen earlier in the day or week.


"Excellent long-term memory for experiences, locations, and faces." (1)

I don't know if anyone can verify this but I know I have been complimented on my long term memory a few times in the past. I can often recall situations that occurred at a really young age. I think this symptom is most predominantly seen in my location recognition and memory, though.

"Prone to ear infections; sensitive to foods, additives, and chemical products." (1)

Probably only my Mom can attest to this one, but I had a lot of ear infections as a child.

"Most dyslexic children and adults have significant directionality confusion."(3)

Examples of this symptom include confusion between "up/down, over/under, before/after, etc.", but I am fairly certain that I don't have any problems with those. The one I do have a problem with is Left/Right. Anyone who has driven under my directions most likely can remember at least one situation when I said one direction but really meant the other. It usually takes a few seconds of thought for me to visualize left versus right.

"b-d confusion is a classic warning sign."(3)

This is one of the symptoms that I believe I am the only one aware of, mainly because it usually occurs in the notes that I take for classes. This symptom is associated with the difficulty distinguishing left from right, since the only difference between a b and a d is that one faces the left and the other faces the right. I actually made this mistake today in class as I was taking notes.

"Many dyslexic people are, in fact, very good readers, but struggle tremendously with spelling or writing."(2)
"Their spelling is far worse than their reading"(3)
"Written work shows numerous signs of spelling uncertainty--numerous eraures, crossing out, etc."(3)

I don't think anyone can argue against me on this one. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a horrible speller. This is a problem that I have been dealing with for a very long time, but I had always thought that it was just a problem on its own. My problem spelling was one of the other major outliers in my intelligence that made look into possible reasons. For the amount that I read, write, and am interested in English/Language Arts, my spelling has never improved and has always been my weak spot.

"Some dyslexics suffer from poor handwriting skills. The word dysgraphia is often used to describe a difficulty in this area, and is characterized by the following symptoms:

• Generally illegible writing.
• Letter inconsistencies.
• Irregular letter sizes and shapes.
• Unfinished letters."(4)

I have always been confused by my hand writing. It is extremely messy and often lacks conformity. I wish I had a scanner so I could show everyone a page of my school notes. I have recently commented to someone about my hand writing, and how I used to wish that it was uniform like everyone else. If I take my time, I can control my writing a little bit better but it still often lacks consistency. It is odd though because my cursive is pretty good. I try every semester to take notes in one of my classes where there is not a lot to write down in cursive, and it is always a lot more legible than my print.


(1) http://www.dyslexia.com/library/symptoms.htm
(2) http://www.dyslexia.com/qasymptoms.htm
(3) http://www.dys-add.com/symptoms.html
(4) http://dyslexia.learninginfo.org/symptoms.htm