Red, red wine

Clunk. Clunk.

I smiled.

Such wonderful sounds to enjoy while being a passenger in the car.

Clunk. Clunk.

This one was a new one!

Clunk. Clunk.

Jase gave me A Look.

‘You didn’t put those wine bottles in the boot, did you?’

‘Er … yeah?’

Surround sound

One of the first pieces of advice my hearing aid audiologist gave me was 'go into the settings on your TV and change it from "stereo" to "mono"'.

I'll admit, I never did that. I thought life had been hard enough on Jase as it was!

But his words did stay in my mind and, as a kind of compromise, I stopped using the home theatre system while I wore the hearing aid.

Being a friendly neighbour

There wasn’t much light, OK? That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

It was early evening. Pretty dim outside. I went out the front to get the mail and saw a shape across the road. My neighbour walking his dog.

I smiled nervously.

Three-month evaluation

I certainly didn't need formal testing to confirm I made the right choice in dropping the Prednisone and opting for cochlear implants instead.


But it sure is mind-blowing when you see the results formalised on paper.

Triple J radio publicity

And the media publicity for the Bionic Ear Institute's 'concert project' continues ...!  

I'm so honoured to be able to help them out with this. What an incredible way of overlapping the arts with the sciences! And anybody who knows the importance of making music FUN is going to get my firm seal of approval. ;-) 

Here's a link to the Triple J interview played earlier this week: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/stories/s2953719.htm  

Piano video, as requested ;-)

(Note: Flash player required)

Have been asked by a couple of my CI buddies to post a video of myself playing the piano, so here I am, playing Debussy's Clair de Lune. This was my concert piece last year, but there are still parts I hope to improve. Hope you enjoy it.

PS: I don't know much about video. Apologies for the poor resolution. And if you hear a hissing sound in the background, it is not your sound processor it's the cheap microphone in our (clearly overpriced) camera. :-D

PPS: This is Clair de Lune. Yes. Debussy. It is not: 'The Twilight Song'. (!)

Interview: BEI concert project for cochlear implantees

Jase chuckled at the first line.

I waved the newspaper at him and said, 'you see! It's official! I don't like to complain! The newspaper says so! That means it's true!'

He shook his head and gave me the 'oh-if-only-they-knew' kind of grin.

OK, so I might be the Complaining Type when it comes to stuff around the house. Mostly temperature-related stuff. (‘It’s too hot in here’ … ‘it’s too cold in here’ … ‘how long has the heating made that whistling sound?’ … ‘how long has the air-conditioning made that groaning sound?’) Seriously. Room temperature is supposed to be 22 degrees, right, not 18? Back me up here. (You see, I’m complaining right now.)

But it is true that you will not hear me complain about my cochlear implants. Though I might (Ever-So-Meekly) admit that music could be better … if there’s a chance I think admitting it might help others.

Where did she go?

Investigative reporters have been forced to go on a search around Melbourne for that ever elusive blogger known simply as ‘Daniela’, after questions concerning her whereabouts grew to an all-time high last week. (Well, to some she’s ‘Daniela’. To others, she’s ‘the strange Aussie one with a fascination for cuckoo clocks’.) We pocketed the following clues about her recent habits.