My friend, Tinnitus

I'd like to introduce you all to one of my faithful friends, Tinnitus, or "Tinny" as I like to call him these days. Tinny has been at my side (right, that is) for about 40 years now.

In more recent times, Tinny's been expanding both his venue and his sonic repertoire - he now visits my left side often (while maintaining his vigilant guard of the right), and serenades me with both classical and modern musical compositions, overlaid on the steady "test tone" he's provided for me all these years.

Tinny's repertoire these days isn't limited to simple tones and music either. One of his favorite ways to entertain me on the left side is by challenging me to guess whether I'm hearing:

a) A refrigerator
b) A fan/ventilation system
c) A somewhat distant tractor
d) Muffled voices in another room
e) All of the above at once

Tinny is not generally an early riser, like I am, so usually I have to wait a few hours after waking until he starts his floor show. This I don't mind, since I know I can count on an entertaining day with my friend, and it's always fun trying to guess what "style" he'll use today. Of course, I can always stir Tinny from his slumber by exposing us to loud environments like a bus ride or a bowling alley. Then, being the good friend he is, he'll put extra effort (and volume) into doing his job well. He can also be roused by having an ENT poke around in my ear(s). Who wouldn't wake up if someone was rattling and banging in your bedroom?

One of the most interesting things about Tinny is that he accepts (musical) requests (when he's playing music). Sometimes, I must admit, I find his compositions rather droll - some of his favorites are endlessly repeating two, three, or five tone sequences. I've found that when I've had quite enough of a certain ditty, Tinny will take the hint, and accept my suggestions - with a little prodding. Fortunately for me, I have a vivid musical imagination, so I can "play" the melody in my head and Tinny will soon get the idea and start following along. It takes a little encouragement sometimes, but once he gets it, he'll be happy to play the song unbidden for many minutes, and sometimes even for hours.

Needless to say, it's not always chocolate and roses. Life with a professional noisemaker can be trying at times, particularly when I'd like to sleep, and as mentioned, Tinny keeps somewhat different hours than me. If he's feeling musical in the late evening, that doesn't really bother me much, as I'm musically inclined anyway - and I can often have my choice, as mentioned above.

However, if Tinny is feeling more "noisy" and less musical, and decides to try the guessing game (a-e above), sleeping can become a challenge. Good drugs (all legal, don't worry) are essential at these times.

Last night Tinny was on his mark with the noises, and while waiting for my 1-2-3-sleep combo to take effect, I'm ashamed to admit that I actually said this prayer:

Dear God, please give me nothing! I'll take totally deaf - I'll deal with it, whatever I have to do! Just give me some silent peace!

Well I don't know if God takes these sorts of prayers seriously, but I suppose I'll find out eventually. Meanwhile, it's me and Tinny, working out how to live together in "harmony".

Thanks for listening.

If you have a tinnitus story to share, please do feel free to comment!

LifeWrecked - out.

ICA: Times Change, Things End (sigh)

It would appear that your Deacon has been abandoned here in the slumlands of central California! No more does http://worshipalcohol.com bring us the joy of learning and worshipping our beloved Stella Artois online! We are quite saddened by this recent discovery, but know that all is not lost! For though we may be scattered, our Holy Beverage Maker is not! Still in pubs and shops nearly everywhere, you can acquire sufficient quantities of Thy Holy Beverage so that you may remain an 'alshipper' in both flesh and spirt, in full communion with "God". You are hereby encouraged to lift a pint often to Thy Holy Beverage Maker, in honor of our departed Church, always remembering to recite the ICA sign of faith:

In the name of the Stella, and the Smirnoff, and the WKD, Beer bless you all!

The Feng Shui Experience

OK, so every now and then I get the urge to blog, and it only happens, well, every now and then. :)

This coming weekend, I'll have a quite welcome guest in my house - my eldest sister, who may not know it, but she's been a guiding light to my mind and spirit. This is a special mission she's on - she's going to help me (begin) to "Feng Shui" the natural disaster of a triplex appartment I live in. It's a disaster for reasons you might guess from my earliest posts (it was our - my STBX and I - "living" quarters).

Now mind you, about Feng Shui, I know nada (in case you are in the same boat, here's a Wikipedia link for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Shui) - and no, I haven't read the whole thing, because there's quite a bit to it!

You may wonder (I sure would) how I, Mr. Skeptica Ecclectia would go in for something as mystically based as Feng Shui, and I'll explain it to you easy: I like how it looks! The most fundamental principle in it involves "eliminating clutter" - and gawd, I should show you the pictures here (of my clutter)! So any philosophy that says reduce, clear, clean, lighten, and minimize, is OK in my book! Do I buy all the philosophical/mystical arguments? I don't *care* about all the philosophical/mystical arguments if this place can be made livable again! They can be true, they can be nonsense, but I'm the sort who will happily accept whatever works better than what I'm doing now. And I've seen the results of applying the Feng Shui principles to a living environment, and my beloved Committee for Skeptical Inquiry slap me silly, I *love* those results!

So Feng Shui it will be, and no doubt I'll become the guru of it eventually. :) I do think I'll put the "before" (I already took those in detail, as my sister needed them to get a "lay of the land") and "after" pics on this blog in a future post - so stay tuned!

LifeWrecked - out.

A Taxi in My Back Pocket

I decided yesterday to give the Jolly Yellow Giant (Yellow Cab) another try, and be doggedly persistent in telling them what's up and demanding service - this to get to my local CTAP office to get certified (Yes!!!) for a CapTel phone. The optimism was based on the fact that no standing appointment is needed at the CTAP office, so I wasn't time pressed (good thing, too - take a number). (CTAP is California Telephone Access Program).

As I expected, the first driver got lost seeking my tricky to find work location. I could see the cab wandering semi-aimlessly a distance from my waiting point, but they couldn't see me - people are smaller than cabs, and not bright yellow either. So deaf as I was, I called Yellow on my cell, and informed them that their driver was lost, and that I really need this ride, so don't let them give up!

Apparently, they sent a different cab driven by a lady who actually lives near the business park where I work (my starting point). She found me quickly, no problem (though some confusion with parking lot traffic so I had to chase her a little). Though I informed her I was HOH, she wanted to chat anyway, and worked patiently to do so - was interested in my hearing loss and related to the dizzies because she'd had an episode herself that went away on its own. Naturally, I gave her a good tip, and she gave me her receipt card with her cell number - something many drivers have done, but I've not had much success getting them to come on demand - particularly since using the phone is hard for me, and taxi drivers as a class are notorious for having accents from distant shores.

This morning, it occurred to me that I had never tried *texting* a taxi driver to arrange a pickup. It is, after all, a cell phone, and most these days are text enabled almost by default, whether the person cares to use it or not. Since I have an actual standing appointment for my CT scan tomorrow, (the same one the JYG caused me to reschedule from last week), I decided that the very worst thing I could get from trying was nothing, so I texted "Debra" (if I'm reading the scribble on her card right), to ask if she could accommodate my appointment, with appropriate details included.

To my happy surprise, she responded with one word - Yes. Two exchanges later (both "Yes" - Debra either doesn't text a lot, or is being reasonably prudent while driving ), and it's a done deal! Of course, I'll have to see the follow-through tomorrow (I'll be sending a reminder), and I know this won't work for me every time, as taxi drivers have lives and schedules too, but to the extent it does work, it's pretty neat to have a taxi in your back pocket!

- LifeWrecked