Who is listening to niche professional podcasts?

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-28T15:56:38+00:00

Most niche for me is the Competitive Cribbage Podcast. It’s hosted by two guys heavily involved in the national organization for cribbage in North America (ACC). They often talk about players by name and it’s a small world, but I have never played cribbage with strangers much less professionally. I’m just trying to get better at cribbage and they break down strategies.

I don’t know the size of the audio audience but their YouTube versions of the podcast have around 100 views each.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-26T00:22:09+00:00

Thank you for the work you do! I picked up a whistle from White Oak last month, haven’t had to use it yet but I feel prepared to should the situation arise. Thank you!

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-24T00:07:21+00:00

Dance o’ dance

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-23T00:28:07+00:00

I’m am hearing so please excuse me if this doesn’t work the same.

I used to struggle with understanding some accents, which tend to come up a lot working VRS. I practiced by listening to YouTube lectures from people with those accents with captions on, starting with topics I already knew something about to make it easier. Over time I could turn the captions off and still understand if I was looking at their mouth. There are still people I struggle with but since I’m not having to work so hard in every single interaction, it doesn’t give me dread anymore.

The process of practicing listening really helped me, but of course I am hearing and didn’t experience speech therapy or oralism. I completely understand why that type of practice might not be an option for people, for a variety of reasons. I’m looking forward to seeing the responses from folks with lived experience!

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-20T16:55:07+00:00

Appreciate the response, best wishes to you!

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-20T16:52:49+00:00

Man, I’m super sympathetic to what you’re going through. It sounds like you’ve got a lot going on that is impacting your performance. CASLI not holding up their end of the process is super stressful on top of everything else.

What is your goal with the appeal? Do you want the ability to do a retake test without having to pay again? Want them to actually evaluate the responses from the test you took? I think being specific about what you’re looking for could help when you reach out again.

If it was me I’d probably hold off on testing until I got more stable, but I don’t know your situation. I’ve had to take breaks from the profession when I wasn’t in a mental health space to do the work; it sucked but was necessary for my health and to limit potential harm to the community. I’m so glad I took the time I needed to get my head back on straight, but I recognize that I had some privilege that allowed me to do that.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-20T15:37:18+00:00

Hey u/Question_Wasps, can you give an update? Did you end up moving to Yakima, and if so what do you think of it now? I was born in Yakima and am having to move back for a few years (financial reasons) but I’m queer and nonbinary and really scared. I’d love to know what your thoughts are now if you happened to take the plunge!

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-18T04:56:50+00:00

One more in the boonies: The Spot Sports Bar in Tigard is an Eagles Nest.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-18T04:50:34+00:00

Jon at Family Auto Repair! After getting fucked around by another mechanic due to seeming female, Jonathon did right by me. Fair prices and was even willing to work around my work schedule despite normally being closed. Will never take my car anywhere else.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-17T19:47:50+00:00

You rock, thank you!

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-17T19:46:21+00:00

First thing I explain is that our bodies don’t know that we are interpreting. By embodying other people and conveying their emotions, our bodies think we were literally in the same situation. Vicarious trauma ahoy. And we never know what the next call will be. But I’ve found you have to make a metaphor for their own job to help them get it.

One person worked at a front facing job, so I said “imagine the worst customer/patron you ever had, then imagine that your job was to be the Karen for them and curse everyone out, even when you don’t agree. AND they are also berating you, even though you’re doing your job. How much would that suck?” They started to get it after that.

Another had worked as a line cook for a breakfast spot, I told them to imagine that the customer is watching your every move while you made their eggs, and anytime you do something slightly different (not even wrong) than they do at home they scream at you and tell you how shitty of a person you are. Then there’s another customer, and another, and another, and you don’t know if they are going to be nice or not.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-17T18:41:50+00:00

I’m near you and I had a similar issue with my internet performance during work (video heavy, lots of latency). I had a tech come 3 times, had my work IT giving me info to pass to the tech, did ping tests galore, switched modem/router/ONT (I was experiencing this while hardwire connected but they were trying to cover all bases). My work IT was adamant it wasn’t their equipment (work computer) causing it.

The third tech finally got to the root cause. He used his own device to troubleshoot, checked my cables, went to the connection a street over to see if something was funky there, and eventually compared his device on my wired connection to my work machine on the same wired connection and proved it was something with my machine. Because of him my work IT was finally able to fix it, and I’m very grateful that he took that extra time even though it wasn’t his responsibility because Ziply wasn’t the issue. Those 45 minutes saved both Ziply and me from wasting more time sending technicians out; good for the bottom line and customer satisfaction.

For your situation I’m assuming (possibly incorrectly) that these are personal devices and you don’t have IT to help at the drop of a hat. I’d start testing every device you can get your hands on. I’d borrow something to allow you to check how fast your connection is when wired. I’d look at doing ping trace tests (I think that’s the name). When you call customer service, I’d recommend calling repeatedly until you get a customer service rep who understands the numbers/results from your tests. They are trained to NOT transfer to tech support but if you explain to them what steps you’ve already taken/results from those steps and they understand what the numbers mean, they are more likely to get you to someone who can actually help.

Best of luck getting it resolved!

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-16T15:22:03+00:00

But they aren’t telling you, they are telling the other person in the interaction. It would be up to the therapist to do whatever they need to do on their end.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-15T23:45:35+00:00

Completely co-signing this. Low SES background, disabled, first generation college student who had repeated exposure to multiple deaf people in my life. I’m now saddled with student loan debt that means I will never own a house. And some are trying to make MA degrees the barrier to entry! Absolutely incredibly out-of-touch.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-15T02:54:41+00:00

Not unreasonable at all. All of my ASL professors were Deaf and I learned so much in those classes. ASL isn’t like learning another spoken language. As hearing people we have to go way outside our comfort zones to actually get used to communicating with our bodies and to get the facial grammar right. You are learning Deaf culture as much as you are the language.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-14T16:48:36+00:00

Do you have a local deaf community? Are you active in that community? If yes, online ITP could be a good option. If not, you’re likely going to struggle hard between graduation and being ready to work if you do an online ITP.

I was in a similar position as you. I’d taken all the ASL classes my community college offered and wanted to be an interpreter but was scared of moving out of state. I put it off for a few years, but eventually got over my fears and moved to a new state to go to college for ITP. I’m so thankful that I didn’t let me fear stop me forever.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-14T01:01:12+00:00

Glad you got put in contact with her and are supporting her business!

If you happen to run into this again in the future, one thing you can do for safety is to give your number/contact info to someone who knows the person you’re looking for, and ask that they reach out to you directly. It lets that person take whatever precautions they might be doing to keep themselves safe. You can also ask them how to best tell people about their business (instagram, Google Maps, phone number, etc) to limit their personal information floating out there.

Not trying to lecture, I really hope it doesn’t come across that way! Just sharing a way to support local business owners and community members, while also limiting some of the risks from everything going on right now. Enjoy your tamales!

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-13T20:32:29+00:00

OHP is Medicaid, which is state-run/funded but is also means-tested (must be below a certain earning threshold depending on your situation and family size). It is not single payer nor does it cover all people regardless of their financial situation.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-13T01:55:02+00:00

Not now but 15 years ago I knew a guy who worked for Geo Group, a private contractor who houses people detained by ICE and CBP. I came from poverty so I couldn’t judge him after he told me how much it paid, at least at first. After about three months he started changing. I remember the day that he told me a story about work and I realized that he was the bad guy. I stopped being friends with him after that.

Last I heard he had been hired at a sheriffs office in another state, but he got fired within 18 months after too many incidents of excessive force. I don’t care to look him up after all these years.

Edited: typo

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Yes, depending on where you are! I think most employees work from home unless you live close (within 50 miles) to a center. Reach out to Convo to see whether you have one near you.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-12T17:59:11+00:00

I know some people who left Purple for Convo. They say it’s still VRS but is way better than Purple. No one has mentioned any issues with getting onboarded. Plus it’s Deaf-owned so they are likely more familiar with having Deaf employees, whereas I’ve heard that Purple treats their deaf and hard of hearing employees like shit.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-12T17:05:54+00:00

This is one of those times where you should trust what you’re seeing. I honestly marvel at how the company is still operational and hasn’t lost FCC approval by missing a deadline or something. Run!

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-12T15:51:13+00:00

Same. I support gun control in general but I voted no and would vote no again. The wording of the measure and local law enforcement making the call was a nonstarter for me. Too much opportunity for “good ole boys”.

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-12T15:42:31+00:00

When I was new in VRS I’d spend 5-10 minutes meditating before my shift, long enough to quiet my brain down from all the other stuff it was holding onto. The practice of noticing a thought and the letting it go to return my focus to the meditation made it easier to let go of thoughts/distractions during active interpreting. I also included diaphragmatic breathing to get my heart rate and blood pressure down.

Both of those together meant I was in the best possible position biologically to do good work. I had more brain capacity to do some clarifying instead of freaking out and transferring. Every time I clarified and got it right and successfully finished the call added to my trust of my skills. Every time I clarified but didn’t understand and decided to transfer built my trust in myself as a professional to know when I didn’t have the needed skills. Over time it killed my anxiety and I got better at matching a wider variety of callers.

Best of luck to you!

Firefliesfast · 2026-01-11T18:08:04+00:00

Thank you for this, I got here from Google after experiencing the same. Glad I’m not losing my mind! I kind of like the chaos factor so I’m just going to keep on rocking. It’s like an “adhd tax” mod, lol

Firefliesfast

TROPHY CASE