California Dreaming

I will show and tell you how to show this song.

Form is important because you’re showing the concepts not finding signs for English words. It helps being a natural actor. Exaggerating form is not good  because it pulls in too many similar signs. Precision and clarity and hitting the beat, expressing the mood, is better than exaggeration or flamboyancy to express musicality. I wish people wouldn’t be so flamboyant. It turns the concept of  brown into beer and turns church into chocolate, gray into “anyway” and winter into fighting, walking into paddling ducks.

“leaf” is a single leaf waving on a twig. Dominant hand flat open attached at its base to the tip of the other hand’s index finger. Twig and shaking leaf. It’s an Aspen!

“Brown” is a “b” held up at the cheek and drawn downward, sometimes twice. But so is “beer” (at the side of the mouth) and so is “bitch,” (a sharp karate chop "b" to the cheek) “Brown” is not a wild repeated circular motion with a “b” at the cheek. Without sound I’d have no idea if the leaves are brown, beer, or bitch.

“gray” is a neat sign. Both hands full open fingers spread, the fingers pass through each other coming and going. Once or twice. The configuration is similar to “roommate” and “breed” and “blend.” The movement is similar to “anyway.” I prefer a singular definite “gray.” Seal’s Kiss From A Rose on the gray demands a definite solid gray that can be kissed, not a depressed moody wishy-washy “anyway” gray.

“walking” is showing flat hands as feet taking steps. Dictionaries show it walking in place. Both women show a duck paddling. My style shows the steps moving forward. Or two fingers walking.

“Winter” and “cold” and “frozen” are both hands clasped into fists and held tightly to the torso with the entire body shivering. Both these women shake their arms instead,  making “cold” look like “fighting.” I learned to do this with two “W” signs instead of clenched fists to specify “winter.”

“safe” both women show “not harmed,”  “protected,” “not exposed to danger.” To me it suggests “liberated.” There is also “keep,” another configuration with two “k” signs attached and brought up to the chest.

“Warm” is the breath expanding from your mouth. It is shown as a breath. Like hearing people exaggerate bad breath by emphasizing H sounds in words, like “H-H-H-ello H-H-H-andsome, H-H-H-aving a H-H-H-appy H-H-H-oliday?” That’s what the sign shows. The puff from the mouth spreads out. The sign is the basis for “dragon.” You have to show a difference between warmth and a dragon. "Hot" is similar, a "C" sign flicked from the mouth.

“California” is the same sign as “gold.” It’s the “I love you” hand configuration pulled away from the side of the head while shaking (shimmering gold)

Textbook “dream” is a “d” wigging away from the forehead. Both women show “elaborate daydream fantasy.”

“on such a” is shown, “this right here.”

“Stop” is a karate chop onto the palm of the opposite open hand.

“Church” is a “c” put on the backside of the non-dominate hand. A church is a heavy building. It’s plunked onto its spot. It is not a bouncing balloon “c.” Because both these women’s  “c” bounce then I’d question if I’m seeing a church and wondering if I’m supposed to be seeing “chocolate,” the same configuration but stirred.

“Way” is shown as “path” The women show a channel. I show the channel formed with two “w” signs for the specific English word “way.” But all that is not necessary when the phrase is restructured to an upright index finger passing other fingers, then a Church, the passing ceases, (“stop”), index finger goes into the “c”

“I passed along the way” Upright fingers of non-dominate hand, index finger (me) passes them. They show one upright thumb passing by another upright thumb.

“Pretend” is same as “brown” except with an index finger coyly drawn down the cheek repeatedly in a circular motion. Facial expression shows you are being false. Their version of “dream” or “daydream” also works nicely for a full story that’s pretended. Another form is the same index finger making a “false” and “fake” motion across the nose. “True” is an index finger that comes from the mouth and nose straight forward, “False” is the same configuration with the movement like a clock hand across the face  sometime striking the tip of the nose in a 90° arc.

“Know” is the fingertips of an open hand touching the forehead.” The women flick it off, and that means, “not know” or “don’t know.”

“preacher” shows the white collar band.

“Like” is middle finger and thumb pinch at the chest and pulled forward, a motion similar to pulling off a shirt button. The other type of "like" is to index fingers matching. Another form is a "Y" going back and forth between yourself and something outward for "we're the same," or, "those two things are the same."

“You know” point to “you” + know, “He knows," point to him (over there) + know.

“Stay” is both thumbs pressed together and pushed forward. “Continue,” this is a very useful sign. It comes up all the time, the concept of persisting, lasting, enduring.

“If” is an insignificant sign, a flick of the pinkie finger at the bottom of the eye. A dangerous sign to execute. The word is an English conceit where a shoulder shrug does as much as the sign. It’s a sign that hearing people do to fulfill their English prerogative.  If the concept of “if” is important than a more significant sign is more useful. I leaned the two scales sign for this idea of “if,” it’s used for “judge,” and "court," the weighing of two plates on a scale, and the configuration is also used for “interpret,”  but there sort of knitting and not weighing scales. “If” is a tiny version of that. All that I see online is this pinkie finger flick at the bottom of the eye and always for the English word “if.”  Like “if” Mattis would just see a plastic surgeon his eye bags could be drained.

“Tell” is an index finger flick from the mouth in the direction of the person being told.

“Leave” has possibilities in this language. But these women don’t use them. Both hands flat facing downward pick up their contents and both fling off together in the same direction. Both hands can fling off or one hand can simply point to the destination. There is also a really cool and useful sign for “escape,” a flat hand facing downward with an upright index finger of the opposite hand poking up between the fingers slipping out and away in a new direction. This splendid sign is in a system of signs that includes “show up” by popping up through the floor, and “disappear,” by dropping out through the floor. This is an immensely useful system of signs.

A flute is easily enough pantomimed. And it’s fun! You can actually show the fingering and the high notes and the strains. Soph bobs her head around and Brianna says simply “music” and gives up. As if the plaintive sounds are irrelevant. My personality doesn’t allow this. It forces me to attempt to convey the sound and express the meaning of the sound. It’s a bit tormented so that’s what I’d show. And I fully expect that to get a laugh. But they’d be laughing with me and my hopeless attempt, not at me the goofball loon. Come on, Kids, you’re on YouTube showing off, why stop just because the words stopped and it became instrumental? Don’t you ever air-guitar, air-piano, air-violin, air-flute or piccolo?

Air trumpet? Air drums? Air viola? Air-harmonica? Come on!

Suddenly they all become shy. They ALL do. I’ve yet to see anyone do an air guitar. There’s your chance to show being carried away.

Okay. You’re ready.