So I got to thinking, this was a blog yes, as you can see, it says blogger at the top. You probably typed a link or clicked on a link with the word blogspot.com in it, so it most obviously is a blog. Tee hee, don't you admire dry humor?
But why is this blog here? Is it a means for me to channel my feelings in hope that the "drudgery of everyday life will lift like the fog in the mist"? Or is it a springboard for a future book perhaps? Or is it, as I've always said, a perspective on a life for someone who's on the outside and wants to look in, or a perspective from someone on the inside who wants to know they are not alone in their thoughts and feelings of frustrations, loopholes, and dead ends? If so, everything is so particular, hence the title "Who? Why? For?"
There's a number of people this book could be for, and there are a number of topics I wanted to write down to remember to expand on in the future, but I forgot that list of topics... It came to me one night just as I was falling asleep, and it was a great list.
But if we were to look at who could potentially gain from this book:
A Professor teaching a class on disabilities, perhaps someone who wants to engage in fun reading instead of dry boring slow reading.
Family members of the author, and with books being scanned and put online nowadays, they may have to pay for their own copy instead of getting it free, but don't worry, I'll sign it - no problemo.
Children who are considered Deaf, but this book doesn't really offer them any perspective on life, I have severe-to profound hearing loss in my right ear, and profound in my left. I'm not entirely deaf without my hearing aids, but I'm deaf enough. However children who are Deaf have an extremely helpful community (hence the capital D in Deaf) full of support and love, and I'd encourage anyone of them to get involved if they haven't already.
Children with hearing loss or impairment - but then this is such a vague topic, perhaps this book will be helpful for that teen who may have just gotten hearing loss in his later teens, and he's going through a tough time dealing with new emotions and frustrations, this book could definitely give him perspective on how his life will be and how he can adapt. But what about the child born with it? Just like me, he might already know how the story plays out, but maybe he'll learn the transition from middle to high school, to college, and so on with all the wonderful tasty little delights in between. Maybe he'll have a life, or a shed a tear, he'll say haha, I'm lucky that it's not like this, or maybe he'll say I wish my friends would be like that. Maybe it'd be a good book for him to read, or maybe it may be a sad book.
This is all unknown territory for me, and it's very scary. But if I had to promise one thing, it's this much - I'll try to experience everything I can, so the sooner I can write it, the sooner I can publish this book, and the shorter it'll be.
Would you read a book on someone who catalogs his first 22 years of life, or his first 100 years of life? There's a big difference in the fatness of that book.
Oh and incase you were wondering, other than students, I don't think many non-hearing impaired kids will buy this book... They might just take it off the internet. If you are reading this book and you are reading this passage, don't feel like you wasted your money, I promise to make the cover so goddamn awesome it'll include a coaster for when you put it on your coffee table.
25.1.09
22.1.09
Age
So I was interested in seeing if the livingwithhearingloss.blogspot.com was really taken and it was, and he bought up a couple of interesting points. Even though he only wrote three short things, and he wasn't born with it, and his posts were boring, it was a decent blog. (Not to toot my own horn, but, hey you know, my fingers do magical things)
He mentioned that there was something like 30 million people with hearing loss (ok, it's just a number, that number means jack shit to us, it doesn't put things in perspective, we are visual animals, unless we see, feel, or taste something, words do nothing for us) But he mentioned the number was getting higher because of baby boomers hitting their 60s.
I have nothing against people of age with hearing loss, at all. But what frustrates me is people of age with a hearing loss who complain they have it hard. I mean, it hits them like a sack of wet bricks - being hearing impaired sucks - bottom line. Why the bricks were wet, I don't know, but it sounded much more brutal, eh? Anyways, yes, being hearing impaired does suck, but don't go so far as to say, hey we have it hard, give us benefits or bonuses. You think you have it hard? At an age where you are stereotypically NOT supposed to hear well, people kind of expect the whole "senile" way of life you're about to embark on. And pardon my use of the word senile, it's so very stereotypical but it's the best fit. You try dealing with what you have towards the end of your life, after all is said and done, for the entirety of your life. Yeah, I'm glad you gain the perspective, and I feel for you, I really do, I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy, ever. But don't tell me you have it hard, instead, how about instead of channeling your energy into how life is difficult as you age, channel it into making life better and more understood for the young kids.
I am 19 now, I am by no means an old fart (although I feel it, a 5 year old in a 19 year olds body - oh and ladies, don't worry, I have the sex drive of a 19 year old) but I've been dealing with it for 17 years. That magic formula, I recieved my hearing aids at 2, so take however many years I am old and subtract 2. That's the amount of time I've spent with hearing aids. But, hey, it's a number, and lest I be a hypocrite, that number means jack shit to you. Ok, how bout this, take some cotton balls, put enough into your left ear that you can barely hear anything, you know there's a sound, but you don't know what it's saying or where it's coming from. In your right ear, put enough so everything sounds kinda muffled, like when you get to the point where if you know the subject matter, you kinda can tell what they are saying, but if they say random things, you have no idea what they are saying. Once you're there, imagine that - for 17 years. Yeah, good luck with that experiment, and please don't attempt it, by the time those 17 years are up, i'll have a whole nother 17 years on you, and you'll have to outlive me by 17 years to finish it. And I plan on living a long time. But those are just words, that long doesn't mean anything to you does it? Well I'll put it this way, the way technology is going, we have two paths. Soon everyone will be hearing impaired from the extremely loud noises we generate, or everyone will have crystalline hearing because all the sounds of entertainment will be channeled directly to your auditory inputs without causing the physical damage on your ossicles or ear drum. (Hey neurologists, don't you dare touch that, I want that experiment to myself in 9 or so years from now - and for those of you who hear of it down the line, don't forget who thought it first).
Yeah I'll cut this short, short by relative means, but still long by general means. And short like, well, shorts short enough that you can see that old man's balls dangling out the side. Yeah, that short.
He mentioned that there was something like 30 million people with hearing loss (ok, it's just a number, that number means jack shit to us, it doesn't put things in perspective, we are visual animals, unless we see, feel, or taste something, words do nothing for us) But he mentioned the number was getting higher because of baby boomers hitting their 60s.
I have nothing against people of age with hearing loss, at all. But what frustrates me is people of age with a hearing loss who complain they have it hard. I mean, it hits them like a sack of wet bricks - being hearing impaired sucks - bottom line. Why the bricks were wet, I don't know, but it sounded much more brutal, eh? Anyways, yes, being hearing impaired does suck, but don't go so far as to say, hey we have it hard, give us benefits or bonuses. You think you have it hard? At an age where you are stereotypically NOT supposed to hear well, people kind of expect the whole "senile" way of life you're about to embark on. And pardon my use of the word senile, it's so very stereotypical but it's the best fit. You try dealing with what you have towards the end of your life, after all is said and done, for the entirety of your life. Yeah, I'm glad you gain the perspective, and I feel for you, I really do, I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy, ever. But don't tell me you have it hard, instead, how about instead of channeling your energy into how life is difficult as you age, channel it into making life better and more understood for the young kids.
I am 19 now, I am by no means an old fart (although I feel it, a 5 year old in a 19 year olds body - oh and ladies, don't worry, I have the sex drive of a 19 year old) but I've been dealing with it for 17 years. That magic formula, I recieved my hearing aids at 2, so take however many years I am old and subtract 2. That's the amount of time I've spent with hearing aids. But, hey, it's a number, and lest I be a hypocrite, that number means jack shit to you. Ok, how bout this, take some cotton balls, put enough into your left ear that you can barely hear anything, you know there's a sound, but you don't know what it's saying or where it's coming from. In your right ear, put enough so everything sounds kinda muffled, like when you get to the point where if you know the subject matter, you kinda can tell what they are saying, but if they say random things, you have no idea what they are saying. Once you're there, imagine that - for 17 years. Yeah, good luck with that experiment, and please don't attempt it, by the time those 17 years are up, i'll have a whole nother 17 years on you, and you'll have to outlive me by 17 years to finish it. And I plan on living a long time. But those are just words, that long doesn't mean anything to you does it? Well I'll put it this way, the way technology is going, we have two paths. Soon everyone will be hearing impaired from the extremely loud noises we generate, or everyone will have crystalline hearing because all the sounds of entertainment will be channeled directly to your auditory inputs without causing the physical damage on your ossicles or ear drum. (Hey neurologists, don't you dare touch that, I want that experiment to myself in 9 or so years from now - and for those of you who hear of it down the line, don't forget who thought it first).
Yeah I'll cut this short, short by relative means, but still long by general means. And short like, well, shorts short enough that you can see that old man's balls dangling out the side. Yeah, that short.
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