My Mom is coming to visit!

Way off topic, I know. But Until Sept, I have nothing on topic to discuss.

I only see my mom about one day a year, if at all, for like 2 hours. We can't talk on the phone (for obvious reasons), she can't afford a computer with internet, so we get to text about a few times a month and that's it. But anyway, I suggested she fly out here and we split the cost of her plane ticket, so voila. She'll be here on monday for a week. What to do though?

It's 115 degrees, on average, out here this summer. You certainly don't want to be outside unless there's a pool to dunk in. I think we'll go bowling. Maybe see a movie. Go to the mall. Have her teach me to crochet (since I taught myself to knit, but figured I should learn crochet cause it's easier to make blankets that way). Possibly go visit her half sister and brother (they have the same father, and they're 20 years younger than my mom), thus they are also my younger half aunt and uncle (haha). We haven't seem in nearly 15 years or so though.

Side news, I have 2 1/2 weeks of vacation before school starts. I'm taking online classes for a Health Science Education degree and there's 4 sessions a year, with 2 week breaks in between them all. It's quite a mundane schedule. Especially since all the classes have, more or less, the same assignment types and deadlines- 4 papers due every 2 weeks for 2 classes for 11 weeks. Either way, I'm so excited to have some free time. Woo.

Other than that, My sister in law is getting married in August to her Coast Guard fiancee. I am a bridesmaid. I hate being a bridesmaid. I am not girly enough to like being a bridesmaid, but I do what I'm told. And I do it cause she wants me to and because she hearts me and I heart her. It shall be fun.

Enough for today. Tootles.

Music

Upon talking to many people that have the cochlear implant, and reading information about what to expect after it, many people don't like music with the CI. Although I suspect which type of CI you get plays a major, obvious, role in how music will sound, it just overall won't sound the same anymore. Partially, I assume, because of how the CI's will not process sounds at the same rate as normal hearing. The implant will process sounds in a more specific order than a normal ear is capable, and often, it won't be all the sounds that are existing. I found this blog with sound samples in it... it is pretty shocking and made me sad. Click here and go down to Music1, and listen to it. you'll hear 5 separate areas, based on channels/spectral bands of a CI, with the last area playing the song normally. To me, the first 3 are awful.... it was screeching and giving me a headache; in the 4th part, I can hear the voice clearer, and the music quite distant, and the last part, somehow, everything sounds perfectly clear, even the voice. Yet, in reality, voices in music are not that clear to me with my level of hearing loss right now. However, that sample goes to 32 channels, the Harmony, will reach 'up to' 120 channels (if channels IS the same thing as spectral bands). I can't find any samples of what 100 channels would sound like, but hopefully, just, way better than that 32 channels.

Either way, I'm worried I won't hear/like Michael Jackson's music after the implantation the way I've heard it the past 15 years. I'd be pretty sad if Dirty Diana and Smooth Criminal won't sound good to me anymore. Dirty Diana is hands down my favorite MJ song ever, and it doesn't have much to do with the lyrics or vocals as it does with the overall sound of it. I guess I'll find out in time though.

Independence Day

Image via Wikipedia

Independence Day is my favorite holiday. Why, you say? I love fireworks. I love how nice people are. I like the family gatherings and barbecuing/food. The parades. The colors. Can't hate its history either. There's only so many days a year when everyone is nice to each other, and this is one of them, without the expectations of buying gifts, religion, and waking up at the crack of dawn (in comparison with Christmas).

What are you doing this year to celebrate? Me, probably a local firework show sunday night and some barbecuing with the husband. Nothing major. Although, there's a possibility we will go to the Phoenix International Raceway tomorrow night to hang up, eat food, and watch their firework show, too. Sounds fun, until you think of the traffic after the show.

Hope everyone has some fun! Celebrate your independence! And if you think we're not a free country (in the best of ways), think about the Middle East, Africa, China, etc. America is looking quite dandy at this point. :-D