Busy

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve blogged. Life has been busy but a fun kind of busy!

Just a quick update as to what I have been up to.

Celebrating graduations.

Helping a friend move to a new house.

Helping a couple prepare for their wedding.

Babies being born.

Those sort of things. Even though many of us are in our 20s-early 30s, we’re still constantly entering a new “phase of life.” I really enjoy getting to be a part of my friends’ life and watching them move though these phases.

I have yet another friend who is pregnant and is due in October! If you remember a few months ago I blogged about how it seems like everyone is having babies! 🙂

Two cousins had babies recently too. Basically I know of 6 babies who are 3 months or younger. It’s fun to see how similar yet different they are at such a young age.

I’ve also been busy spending time with friends. Minda invited the Dukes, Dennis, and myself to a dinner at her place a few weeks ago. Dennis couldn’t make it since he had to be out of town for work. That dinner was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s!

Kickball ended a couple of weeks ago and we will start sand volleyball in a few weeks!

Dennis also took me to the Cirque de Soleil last weekend. I’ve always wanted to see one of their shows and I absolutely loved it! I did find myself enjoying the sound effects too. It was fascinating to me to see how much the action matched the sound effects. Such a perfect example of how someone can “hear” visually.

Enough rambling. Just wanted to do a quick update. I keep thinking of things to post about but I keep forgetting to write the topics down!

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My First 5K in June!

I decided to change my running plan and set up several shorter-term goals instead of one big goal to run a half marathon in October.

I will be running my first 5K in June. I think it will be a good 5K to start with since it will be a flat course. Then I will register for another 5K in July with a more hilly course.

I wish we had 10K races around here…..instead of making the jump from a 5K to a half-marathon. Eh, it’s still doable. 🙂

So, here’s to restarting my running plan. Am going to do the couch-to-5K plan in 4 weeks instead of the typical 9 weeks. The first time I completed the couch-to-5K plan was about 6 months ago and I was able to finish it in 6 weeks when I wasn’t as committed as I am now.

Attempt At Eating A Bowl of Cereal = Fail

I’ve been dealing with a sore throat on and off for the past month. I did get a round of antibiotics from my doctor a few weeks ago and the sore throat seemed to go away for a few days. A week and half ago I started running low on energy and had a scratchy throat which I chalked up to allergies…until Sunday…when I couldn’t sleep at all because of how sore my throat had became.

I almost didn’t go to our last kickball game last night but I just HAD to get out of the house for a bit and I was feeling a lot better yesterday evening. I went with the hopes that the sore throat was a 24 hour thing because I did seem to feel better as the game went on. I didn’t even notice my sore throat after a while.

The soreness came back last night in the wee hours as I was trying to sleep. I think I got a grand total of 1 hour of sleep. I woke up not being able to swallow without severe pain.

I decided to cancel my CI mapping appointment this afternoon. I didn’t think it would be a successful mapping session if I felt miserable. I also didn’t want to spread my germs anymore than I already had.

The thing I hate about not feeling great is that I get SO frustrated at being cooped up and nothing seems to get done. I was one of those weird kids who didn’t like staying home from school for more than a half a day because of how frustrated I would get. I didn’t like laying around all day long doing nothing. That to me, was almost worse than being sick.

I’m off to Wal-Mart to get something to hopefully soothe my sore throat and to pick up something soft to eat. I just spent 10 minutes attempting to eat a bowl of cereal and gave up after the 4th or 5th spoonful. Then I’m going to take a nice hot shower and crawl back into bed and hopefully get a few more hours of sleep. Hopefully that will give me enough energy to be more productive this afternoon.

Ice Maker Buzzer

I was able to identify the sound the ice maker makes!

So what?!? What’s the big deal about this you ask? Let me explain and maybe it’ll give you a sense of how much is involved in the process of learning/identifying a sound without prior knowledge.

I was listening to music on my laptop through my audio cable which reduces the outside sound and I was also IMing with people. My laptop makes a sort of chiming sound when I get new messages or send messages.

I kept hearing a random buzz in the kitchen. One that I had never heard before.

Yes, a buzz. I was able to describe the sound using “buzz” instead of “I hear something.” I was pleased about this.

I could not figure out what it was but kept hearing it over all the other sounds.

Limited access to outside sound, music, and IM chimes. I was able to sort through the cloud of different sounds to pick out a single sound.

Just as I was ready to get out of my chair to investigate and see if I could find the source of the sound….I realized there was a new sound in additional to the buzz.

I identified two distinctive sounds and how they were different.

It sounded like several objects were hitting other objects.

Once again, being able to describe a sound with details. This is something I’ve struggled to learn and still do.

*Flashbulb went off* It was the ice maker.

The ice maker is just a simple little noise. Nothing compared to listening to someone talking or a noisy setting. Yet so much was involved in the process of trying to figure out what I was hearing.

Is it important that I hear this sound? No.

Does being able to hear this sound affect the quality of my life? No.

Should a person get a CI just to hear this? No.

Did I enjoy hearing it? Yes, I enjoyed the challenge of figuring the sound out more than the sound itself.

I’m comfortable with being deaf yet I like hearing. That’s a concept that some people seem to have difficulty grasping.

Is it okay to enjoy both being deaf and hearing? YES!

Why?

Why do I keep blogging about my CI?

Why do I keep blogging about what it’s like to be deaf?

I don’t know.

I feel like all my posts are repetitive and I’m not quite sure why I keep blogging. Maybe it’s because ever since I started blogging I’ve learned that I’m more similar than different from others.

Maybe it’s because I’ve recognized the difference it makes when I’m open about my CI and being deaf? People are more willing to share their experiences with me and people are more comfortable asking me questions which has helped me have more positive experiences when communicating with hearing people who don’t know sign language.

I don’t know how many times I’ve considered making a final blog post and closing out my blogger account yet I keep blogging.

I also don’t know what it is about the CI that keeps wanting me to do better and better even though I’ve plateaued. It’s funny, growing up I was one of those kids who rebelled against hearing aids, against being labeled “deaf” and “special,” and most of all against speech therapy/aural rehab.

I think it’s because the CI process has been all my decision. It has been 100% my responsibility. I did this 100% for myself and not for anyone else. No one “gets after” me when I don’t feel like wearing my CI. No one orders me to wear it. It’s the first time I’ve been 100% in control in terms of choosing to wear hearing aids or not, choosing to have a CI or not, choosing to sign or not, choosing to have aural rehab or not, etc.

I love that freedom.

Even though I’m fine with not hearing, I still find myself wanting to hear. I don’t know why. I’m happy and I function great when I can’t hear. I think it’s just my personality in general. I’m curious about the world around me. I like trying new things. I like discovering things from different perspectives. I like challenges.

Yet Another Mapping

I keep having issues with my CI maps. I’ve had issues on and off since January. Things just aren’t as clear as they could be. Sometimes I don’t hear things I know I should be able to hear even though I’m listening for it. Sometimes it sounds like there are “gaps” when I’m listening to people talking or listening to music.

I did have a mapping last week which finally got rid of the neck stimulation. Whew!

I’m going in for another mapping later today and am really hoping it will help with the clarity. Then I’m going to give aural rehab a shot. My CI center has decided to try a volunteer program where volunteers work with people who want to improve their “listening” skills.

I’m curious about how this will go. Insurance usually does not cover aural rehab (which is ridiculous) after getting a CI so it’ll be great to finally get the opportunity to work on my “listening” skills with someone in person instead of just on a computer.