Tick Tock

The race is on. In a few hours, the year 2005 will be non existent. How can that be? Just last month it seemed like it was a new year! Months go by like weekends for me. I have a busy life; there's always more that I want to do. Making "new year resolutions" is an ongoing task for me all year. The dreamer I am wants to explore and experience the unknown in the short life I have. I fear that there's not enough time. The wise saying "live your life as if it was your last day" comes to mind which is not a bad idea.
Will you be fullfilling your dreams this year? I know I will keep trying.

Best wishes for a healthy and Happy New Year, 2006

Stressful Listening

Someone slams the door - I jump, startled.

I'm at a party or with a group and the hum of people talking grows louder and louder. It gets uncomfortable - I might leave.

After a lengthy conversation I learn someone has been telling me about their garden, while I've been discussing bargains.

Everyone is listening to someone tell a joke, suddenty everyone bursts into laughter except me. I didn't hear the punch line.

I'm introduced to a pipe-smoking stranger or a person with a mustache - my heart sinks at the thought that I might not understand him or be able to read his lips.

I think I heard my name and someone saying something to me, but I was concentrating on something else and may not know where the sound was coming from. Then the speaker shouts the request again, irritated that I haven't responded, causing me to feel startled and embarrassed.

Yes - I wish people would understand how I feel. I wish someone would clue me in to the topic of conversation, especially when I go on about something unrelated! I wish someone would repeat or tell me the punch line, avoid slamming the door, remove the pipe from his mouth, get my attention before speaking. I want to be involved in the life around me but sometimes the failures are too many so I decide to stop trying. Communication becomes exhausting and "more trouble than it's worth", "not worth the effort", "too embarrassing", or "too dangerous a situation to not hear well".

Back to the topic of Hearing Loss

Earlier I wrote "20/20", about how hearing aids do not cure hearing loss. Although aids usually amplify all sounds, the aid does not give one truly "normal hearing". The volume level and ability to tell the difference between sounds are both affected. One is left to develop skills in relying on visual clues from lip reading, body language, and previous knowledge of the topic. He/she may not understand the context the words are being used in but tries to follow the conversation and make "good guesses" about what is being said. I call this "filling in the puzzle". Inconsistency is what gets us into trouble. It is hard for people to understand why we can communicate well sometimes but not others.
Hearing people are usually unfamiliar with these skills mentioned and communication strategies used. Most do not realize the concentration a hearing impaired person needs to communicate and the stress it causes. As for me, my eyes get tired as well. I may be silently saying to myself, "Do you have to talk so much or so long?!!!)

To My Blog Readers

To those of you following my blog I thank you for reading. I hope I have entertained you with my attempts at poking fun at the hearing impaired with light humor. And I would be delighted to know that you are gaining an insight of the non hearing world with the informational articles I've written.

From time to time I intend to deviate from this topic to "toot my horn" which could be anything beyond your dreams (and mine too!)

Best Wishes for happy reading.
Cathy

Merry Christmas!!!!

This was sent to me from the Internet.

Lately I have been hearing so darn much about how
no one says Merry Christmas anymore that I had to
take a few moments and think about this.

I wonder if we as Christ-based believers aren't
getting too caught up in the words and completely
forgetting the spirit that Christ Jesus came to
earth to teach us.

Didn't He come to teach us about
love................ unconditional love?

I feel SURE that He did not want the celebration
of His birth to be about judgement. and anger over
a greeting.

Christmas is an inward experience of being,
made manifest in an outward display of love for
ALL of Gods creations.
NOT just the select few Christians... and I use
that term loosely.

Many profess with their lips to be
Christians...yet their behaviors profess
differently. Including my own on occasion.

We as Christ-based believers are turning the
Holiday season into a religious war.

We Christians do NOT own the holiday season.
For crying out loud.... aren't we missing the
point folks???

Time to get over ourselves and perhaps stop being
so damn pious.
When you can feel and be in the spirit of
Christmas all 365 days of the year...THAT is when
you have truly understood the teachings of Christ
Jesus.

So from me to you...Happy whatever you want to
call it....just please, celebrate by ceasing the
bitching and judging and missing the brotherhood
of sharing this space we call Earth. By all this
rhetoric we are avoiding the MOST important thing
of the season.
Peace on Earth and Good Will To Men and Women.

Do you REALLY think He would be concerned if we
say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

The words don't really matter.....it's the SPIRIT
of our heart-felt love does.
Why fight over words.
I have a feeling Jesus The Christ would tell us
all to chill out and LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Still feel that saying Merry CHRISTmas is the ONLY
way of showing that you are a Christian?????
Well if so please think again and go find that
dusty old Bible you probably haven't read for a
long time... perhaps ever... and turn to
Peter 1:5-11 5 For this very reason, make every
effort to supplement your faith with goodness,
goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with
self-control, self-control with endurance,
endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with
brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with
love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are
increasing, they will keep you from being useless
or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is
blind and shortsighted, and has forgotten the
cleansing from his past sins. 10 Therefore,
brothers, make every effort to confirm your
calling and election, because if you do these
things you will never stumble. 11 For in this way,
entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ will be richly supplied to you.

Hebrews 13:1-17 1 Let brotherly love continue. 2
Don't neglect to show hospitality, for by doing
this some have welcomed angels as guests without
knowing it.

2 Thessalonians 1:1 2 Grace to you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We are
bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it
is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly,
and the love of every one of you all abounds
toward each other, 4 so that we ourselves boast of
you among the churches of God for your patience
and faith in all your persecutions and
tribulations that you endure,

1 Peter 1:13 22 Since you have purified your souls
in obeying the truth through the Spirit F4 in
sincere love of the brethren, love one another
fervently with a pure heart,

Christmas vs Happy Holidays...it's become a
war....... and what a sorry ass thing that is!
Shame on us all.

Loud Music is damaging

From Earth Times, December 19, 2005

Ear buds : Whats loud music today may fall on deaf ears tomorrow

Author : Pat Fryer

Playing music on mp3 players, iPods and other portable music players may be catching on but so is the potential of such daily doses of audio through earbuds in damaging hearing says a study. According to Dean Garstecki, anaudiologist at Northwestern University, it could be much worse as ear buds amplify audio signals by six to nine decibels, with even the potential to cause permanent loss of hearing.

The report that appears online on the site of the Newswise wire service hints at damages to hearing that can arise from the increased use of iPods and MP3 players with a need to warn people about it. Garstecki equates the ear buds amplifying ability to "the difference in intensity between the sound made by a vacuum cleaner and of a motorcycle engine". He recommends,"One should use the devices at 60 percent maximum volume no more than an hour daily. Better yet, try muff-type or noise-canceling headphones".

Besides intense sound, the music playing devices of today afford long hours of listening with their extended battery life and huge storage added to the convenience of portability. Garstecki recommends that permanent loss of hearing could be avoided using the old-fashioned headphones or noise-canceling headphones that “eliminate background noise". As per Garstecki the use of noise-canceling phones means that listeners need not crank up the volume and thereby avoid any damage to their hearing.

The ear buds are placed directly inside the ear, which is why they are capable of far more damage than those that rest on the ear. But Garstecki's advise is reminiscent of the response elicited by Walkmans and portable CDplayers in the '80s. But the fact is that more and more devices provide in ear audio signals from mobile phone hands-free head sets to music playingdevices. Garstecki suggests, “We`re seeing the kind of hearing loss in younger people typically found in aging adults. ”.

Garstecki says, “Unfortunately, the ear buds preferred by music listeners are even more likely to cause hearing loss than that associated with the older devices”. With students often seen to be listening to music at 110 to120 decibels, it appears that the researcher may not be wrong in saying thatit is like being at a rock concert all the time. Garstecki, who is the Chairman of the Communication sciences and disorders department observes,“It's enough to cause hearing loss after only about an hour and 15 minutes”.

Garstecki proposes as a solution “the 60 percent/60 minute rule” whereby MP3 devices, iPods and such devices be used for less than an hour a day at below60 percent of the highest volume. The trade off between volume or type of headphones and time spent listening to music seems obvious. “If listeners turn the volume down further and use different headphones, they can increase the amount of time they can listen”, he says. But what is good for the youth is not necessarily fashionable with them, which even the author of the report says could “be a hard sell”.

Infection

For the past 24 hours I've been in quite some pain with an infected arm post surgery of over a week ago. It's been difficult to focus on much of anything. I hope to get back to this blog very soon.
Cathy