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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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On Saturday I took a bath. No reason, just thought it was time. Well, maybe there was a reason: I had to go to work and it's good to smell fresh.
And I soaked in the tub and rested my head upon the bottom.
When I was done I towel dried my head and popped my ears. Or rather, my ear - only one. The other one refused to pop. And so, certain that it will pop soon I head out to work.
I can't hear a thing in it. And whatever I do hear - through my right ear - balances itself out, so that it sounds like I'm listening to someone shouting at me from the bottom of a swimming pool.
I'm going to work, though, and I can imagine this newfound deafness might not be a bad thing. Now after dinner at work I explain that I can't hear so my coworkers will be extra patient with me. They've all got various cures. The bosses nephew runs out and kindly gets me a syringe, telling me I should fill it with warm water and gently jet the debris out of my ear.
Other people recommend Q-Tips, jumping on one leg, banging my head with my hand, bad ear towards the floor. I try them all, and a few of my own. But there's no helping it, my ear is well and truly blocked.
The shift passes - well, quieter than normal. In a good way - when customers speak to me I give them my undivided attention, cocking my good ear towards them. And I'm already contemplating the fashionable ear-trumpet I'll get, something by way of an antique gramophone, Her Majesties Voice, that will bring the world into focus.
I'll sleep on it and see what happens.
Sunday morning and there's no change. All of Sunday, not a word, not a whisper, radio turned up to double volume...
And today, today has passed the same. I can't hear a thing. Occasionally I hear a distant hiss - like you might hear in a sea shell, but it passes. There was a moment where it felt - briefly, a ticklish trickle ("Has the bubble finally burst?" I wonder, but no, an auditory illusion.)
It will pop, it has to sooner or later. This has happened - not exactly this, but a similar effect, about 16 years ago. I fell victim to the fashionable New Age "Ear Candling", and having tried it myself found myself deafened with a large chunk of beeswax stuck in my ear. I was a victim of propoganda that informed me of the many things I could hope to get out of my ears this way - crickets, tennis balls, corn husks, .... Embarrassed, I lived with the deafness for about 4 days before checking into a clinic. The only thing I got out of it in the end was a good scolding by my doctor.
This will pass, I'm sure, I'll light tea lights under it and ensure I sleep with that ear on the pillow, eventually it has to pass. In the meantime I'm slightly discombobulated, adjusting - by degrees, to this quiet life under the sea.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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interferes, but the slight impetus, the demands upon my time make what remains more valuable and so some is lost, there is a shuffle in how the time remaining is applied. The blog, it's not forgotten or ignored but there are, there will be days where it's not the first thing I address. And I'll thank you now for your indulgence.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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And nothing's changed. Well, my schedule has somewhat, but the regulars are the same, there's the rotating half-wits through the kitchen, a new sous-chef (try out, he's not making it...), a new dishwasher (simple and I'm curious as to what the other dishwasher, my old roomate, thinks of her).
Otherwise it's exactly the same. Lots of work to be done, the dead hours in the afternoon in which to do it. A couple of new girls under perpetual molestation from the boss and his nephew and G. In a way it's kind of nice to be busy, puts the pressure on me when I get home to advance other causes, in another way I just want to cry .... but there are an abundance of bills and this will come in handy. And that's it.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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A busy day. Clean bathroom, scrub sink, bathtub, toilet. At first I tried removing a couple of lightbulbs, but it was still obviously dirty, and so I gave in and cleaned. Did laundry, washed sheets, duvet. Put away mail and vacuum carpet. It doesn't sound like much but it took me hours. There's the promise of guests on the weekend and so I really should make some sort of effort to be prepared. I could buy mints for the pillows but that's probably taking things a little far. And - as far as I can tell - housekeeping is a charm to keep away guests. My own private superstition. There's still the matter of the living room, but that can wait for tomorrow...
Went for a haircut. It's a boring haircut, respectable, suitable for going back to work but otherwise not too stylish. And I stopped at the health food store and picked up some Quinoa, they've been talking about it on CBC and I'm curious to see what all the fuss is about. So goes my day. 1 day left and I'm back to work, truly mixed feelings but I checked my bank account and it is a necessity.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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The weather turns. From a high of 12 above on Thursday through to Friday, snow blowing in and the temperature plummets - minus 4, minus 8, minus 12 and then 16, 18, 20. The roads blow over with snow and the house becomes a hibernaculum. I've made a couple of trips out for supplies - Jack Daniels, some sausages and perogies, the job starts this week and I'm almost - in a perverse way - looking forward to starting. Almost. Getting out of the house and interacting with people-not-cats and catching up on gossip...it will pass in about a week I figure.
In any event with the smallest of economic worries now out of the way I can turn my thoughts to other things. The house again is due for a cleaning - the cats have shed on every square inch of carpet. And there's laundry and dusting and a hundred other trivial chores to fill the time - there's the thought of going out and doing some thrift shopping, checking the re-store for tile & hardwood, now that economy is less of a worry, but the weather forbids.
Just Thursday, the early spring, there was a moth outside banging on the window. Deceived, it would appear, by the early onset of spring (as was I). And checking the forecast it will again, by the end of next week, be warm, but for now it's freezing. So this weekend it's clean, laundry, read up on Sir Francis Drake (who's inspirational) and hold tight for warmer weather.