Sign Language ITP

[Catch]

Thanks to my Tutor Training course only being offered one day of the week, I had to reshuffle my course schedule for the fall and found myself with a free, slightly vexing slot. All my general education courses have been fulfilled (since I already have an A.A. degree), and I'm just filling the credit hour gaps in my BFA while I hack through the required writing workshops. Feeling ambitious and inspired by certain slam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbtVepS53t0) poets (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugvjfkl_Nb4), I decided to take a course learning American Sign Language. The ASL department at my college features some pretty intense teachers, as I've read, so I want to get a jump start on learning over the summer.

Does anyone here have any experience learning & speaking sign language (American or otherwise)? I'd like to hear your experiences, because I find sign language can be remarkably beautiful and expressive, and it's largely under-represented as a language.

[thubby]

as a kid my mother worked with a deaf woman, and tried to learn it. i picked up a few things.
generally, the "word" for something usually involves mimicking it with your hands, so a lot of it comes easy.
and learn the alphabet, for lack of a word, you can ALWAYS spell it.