THE JOURNEY CONTINUES; THE CHRONICLES BEGIN

Today I will begin narrating the trials, tribulations, and accomplishments of my court reporting journey.  Unfortunately, I picked a career field in which there are more of the former two, than the latter.  On the positive side, I am very passionate about what I do and not a day goes by that I don't work to achieve this goal.

Why court reporting?   There was a time in my life in which I had a severe lapse of good judgment and became involved with the wrong individual.  This lapse of judgment produced my two beautiful girls, but at the same time thrust me into the ever-so-comforting arms of the courtroom.   That is a whole other story that I could literally write a book (and movie) about, but in the process, I discovered court reporting.  

I love to type, and I can type very fast, but was always fascinated as to how reporters were able to keep up with every single word.  I wanted to know how to do it so bad.  Then one day, I went to a birthday dinner for a friend, and a friend of mine from high school happened to be there, as well.  She told me she was a court reporter (coincidentally).  That's when I knew I had to do it.  However, it took me two more years and a crumbling mortgage industry for me to actually get started.

I began in June of 2007, but took 4 months off for maternity leave and 6 months off when we relocated to PA.  My estimate is that I'm technically in my 26th/27th month of this journey.  Yes, I calculated my actual "time served" to make me feel better about how slow this process is and that I'm really not as far behind as I thought. LOL

I took 6 months of "Theory", which is where you learn the language.  I call it a "code" because it's really not a language, rather letters put together to form the "code" that we then transcribe back to English.  Every word has its own "code".  Many, many, many words have what we call "briefs", which are more often than not, words with multiple syllables or phrases that we condense into one stroke.  Hence, "The Brief Intervention" because I have been surviving off these brief forms.  Only my fellow court reporters will understand that.

After learning the "code", I then went into speedbuilding (also known as "your quick dose of reality as to what a failure you really are! LOL).  This is where my teacher would read live dictation to us from a real-life courtroom transcript and we'd write it (aka type it) on our machines.  I managed to breeze through 40 wpm all the way up to 120.  Struggled with 120 for a bit, didn't fair too well in 130 or 140, but managed to pass all those speeds within a year's time.  Sidenote:  Keep in mind, the average person types 50-60 wpm on a typewriter.  The "wpm" concept is the same, we're just far beyond the 50-60 wpm with an ultimate goal of 225 wpm.

Last year, we relocated from sunny California to Pennsylvania.  I do love it here very much and am starting to feel at home.  CA will always be my home and YES, JASON, I will always say I'm from California when somebody asks, "Where are you from?", but I feel I'm adjusting well.   One of the best parts of relocating is my new school.  I'm beyond amazed at the difference in technology here.  We actually get live dictation in our practice material and use the student version of actual court reporter software.  This, versus dictation only twice a week for an hour back home and having to transcribe on TYPEWRITERS!!  

Another bittersweet reality was transitioning from previewed material to completely unfamiliar.  Back home, we'd get homework packets that contained the words and material on our tests, so we'd know exactly what we were in for.  We'd also practice this same material in class prior to taking our tests.  By the time the tests came around, I was a pro at it, some of it I even memorized.  In my heart, I knew I wasn't succeeding for "real", but a lot of it was based on me memorizing the material so I knew what she was going to say before she said it.  This helped me keep up with the speaker, but I knew it wasn't right.  I knew no other way of doing things, though.

Transitioning to my new school, what a rude awakening!  But I proved my theory right.  Throw unfamiliar material at me, and I freeze!  It took me quite a while just to get used to hearing unfamiliar.  This was a huge setback for me, but I knew this is what I needed.  In real life, you don't know what someone is going to say.  You don't have a preview of the words they're going to use.  You need to be on your game at all times, prepared for anything.  So as hard as it was to swallow, this was exactly what the doctor ordered!  And alas, I am finally comfortable with unfamiliar.  So comfortable, in fact, that I'll sometimes start typing when Jason has the radio on listening to one of his talk radio shows.  I never would've done that before because it was a "fear" I just didn't want to face.

Alas, I will bring everyone up to my current state of frustration (for lack of a better word!) LOL  I began my new school in January 2010 and just completed the final class last night.  I managed to complete all the requirements for the speed class I was registered for, however I only consider that an accomplishment in "transitioning well".  I had to take a step backward in speed in the transition period because it was all new material, all new requirements, etc.  Don't get me wrong, I am very, very pleased with that accomplishment.  Now, the game begins.

COURT REPORTING:  Speed 140-180 (wpm)

During this semester, I have to pass the following requirements:

2 tests completed with 95% accuracy at 140 wpm in the category of Literary.

2 tests completed with 95% accuracy at 160 wpm in the category of Literary.

2 tests completed with 95% accuracy at 160 wpm in the category of Jury Charge.

2 tests completed with 95% accuracy at 180 wpm in the category of Jury Charge.

2 tests completed with 95% accuracy at 160 wpm in the category of Q&A testimony.

2 tests completed with 95% accuracy at 180 wpm in the category of Q&A testimony.

I have to complete all of this by August (I believe).  I officially have 1 test completed in each category, but I have all those other ones to go in 3 short months.  What happens if I don't accomplish this, not completely sure, I kinda have an idea, but at this point I don't want to even think of me not accomplishing this goal.  This is my short-term goal through August.

The disappointment and failure comes into play when I've been working at this speed for what seems like an eternity and I feel I've actually mastered the speed, yet I can't pass a test.  And it's not just a matter of "not passing a test", it's the fact that I'm getting so close, so close as in the dreaded 94.6%.  And what's even worse than getting the dreaded 94.6% (which I know all too well) is the fact that if only I would've done this, or done that, I would've passed.  This means that when I was transcribing my notes (in code) back to English on the computer, I misinterpreted some words or left out some words or didn't pluralize a word or make it past tense, whatever the case may be.  Believe it or not, even with dictionary.com at my fingertips, I've even misspelled words!  This is what really tugs on your emotions and last night was no exception.  Last night was probably my breaking point.

Last night was the final class until we go back at the end of this month.  Everything was riding on last night.  I wanted to pass out of 140 Literary so bad, and I just KNEW that I could do it.  When I transcribed, I didn't trust my "gut instinct" when editing my transcript back to English and hence, I failed.  Now I am telling myself that to be a good reporter, the words should be there and there should be no "gut instinct".  So in that sense, I realize I have to do better.  But today was one of my not so great days emotionally, just thinking about what I could have done differently to pass last night.  On the positive side, I do have one more test in storage at school that just might be a pass, but I can't say that for sure.  I won't see that test again for another two weeks.

So here we are at the end of my very first post in this very long journey ahead of me.  Like I said, if no one reads it, that's ok.  I feel better right now just getting all these feelings out on paper (or, not paper, but blog? computer? hhmm).  My intent for this blog is to post my failures and accomplishments and thought processes along the way.  If I get any information that will help my fellow reporters, I will share that with you.  If I get new briefs to share, I'll post that, too.  Speaking of which, I came up with a couple today that I'm going to use.  It was the Democrats and the Republicans that got me in last night's dictation so therefore, they will not get me again.  They will now be the TKRATs and the RE/PUPBs!!!

If I do end up with followers, I just want to thank you in advance for joining me on this journey and I appreciate the love and support you give me!  Til next time!