I have to get this off my chest. There may be swearies.
Living here in Holland... it's so conflicting at this time of year. I like it, yet I hate it. I want to take part, but no, I fecking hate it. I like it for the kids, but it ruins my bloody Christmas!
I've felt this way for almost 40 years now... it's probably not healthy.
For those who don't know (so that's like everyone on the planet outside of Holland, barring escapees) the Sint... (Sinterklaas, S. Nicolaas) 'arrives' in the Netherlands, on his ridiculously small 'stoomboot' (steam tug affair) from SPAIN... none of yer Santa's North Pole nonsense.. oh no. Now there's a whole history around it and I know it all but I'm not going to bore anyone here with that... look it up if you're interested and want to warp your brain for half an hour some time. But right, he comes into town, on his wee boat (and his white horse, Amerigo) and as many Black Peter's he can muster (or the council can pay for/arrange somehow... they queue up to be one, honest). There's a whole 'nother controversy about whether Zwarte Piet is black from chimneys (well there's bollix for you) or black because he was 'originally' a black African servant. This controversy gets bigger every year causing a lot of brouhaha I will also not expand upon here other than to say it's very devisive and just adds that extra bit of bleargh to it all for one who dislikes the whole thing anyway (a.k.a... me).
Sinterklaas is not your jolly Santa, but a very serious (if kind) Bishop... of all things... with a big book filled with the names of all the children and details on what they've been up to. This is surreptitiously and serendipitously supplied by quick thinking parents needing their kid reminded to brush their teeth when told, the night before the party, so he can call them up and frighten the life out of them before handing over their present... that sort of thing. The Black Peters frolic around him, being silly and throwing sweets around. Great fun really but so far terrifying to my own grandsons despite the regular singing of Sinterklaas songs for the weeks from his arrival up to his birthday on 6 December.... So like THREE WEEKS from mid-November.
There are no stockings hung here, we leave a shoe... near the window, or a door, if you don't have a fireplace, with a carrot or hay for the Sint's horse, and the usual milk and a biscuit... there are some things similar. Now this can happen in various ways. You (as a child) can put your shoe out every night (Supermarkets let you do it too!) until 5 December (party time... he leaves on the 6th in super stealth style) and only get your present(s) on the 5th... or perhaps once a week, smaller pressies... or every night or every other night a tiny thing (a bit of chocolate perhaps)... it all depends on your behaviour, or what your folks manage to con you into. You tell them that Sinterklaas can't come to all the kids, all the time, then surprise them one morning with a little present because they've been so good... that kinda thing.
Now this is all lovely, and cute and fun... all of that. But I'm a Santa girl. I grew up and started my own kids on Santa, elves and sleighs and reindeer and all things Christmas. This feckin' start of December shite drives me potty!
When we came here to NL it was end September and there was no-one who warned me about this at all. We were in the attic, up a ladder! in these *digs* with two babies and of course we didn't speak Dutch. The 'landlady' had 6 daughters all with families/boyfriends etc (only one small child) but oh let's have a 'Sinterklaas Feest', with 'surprises' (oh god, that's another thing, 'surprises' - same word, different pronunciation, kinda the same meaning but... arghghg). This was just a normal, 3 bedroomed terraced house - the logistics were horrendous for a party with all those folks but ach, in for a penny... . So we spent all we had on presents for everyone, as you do at Christmas, not knowing that generally, grown-ups pull the name of someone in the group attending, out of a hat - so each give one present, in the form of a 'surprise'. Now a surprise is just that really... a present (one you may have asked specifically for, which is another Dutch thing and I don't mean like Santa's letter, I mean like 'what would you like?'... 'xxx please'... 'ok') packed in a surprising way. So a carefully wrapped watch... at the bottom of a cup of custard perhaps? Or a necklace made of tinfoil (but your actual necklace is all wrapped up in there). Or maybe a home made cake, with a box containing a new pen, baked into it. Some folks, when having a proper Sinterklaas party (more for the adults than the kids really) take weeks designing and building say, a doll's house, that comes with all the bits and pieces, and it will contain, after much searching, a concert ticket or... whatever, you get the drift. Each gift is also (traditionally) handed over with a (also traditionally it seems, badly written) poem (although I've honestly yet to hear one that a) has any metre at all, or b) rhymes, unless by mistake at the end of a very long sentence), usually signed 'from the Sint' and mentioning things the receiver has been up to over the past year. Hilarious. If you like that sort of thing. There's always one day at school when the kids exchange 'surprises' too, with prizes for the best one, all of that. We still laugh (mirthlessly) at the 'pencil with a plastic helicopter on the end' that our elder girl got one year... oh they go all out!
Presents are handed out one by one, surprise discovered, poem read... all very convivial. It's just not Christmas. Which of course it isn't. But then, when it's all over... 'hurray, at last the shops can do Christmas stuff'!! Except, when we first came, this was not the case. You couldn't get a chocolate Santa for love nor money. There. was. no. Santa. Full stop. The Sint was yer man and he was off back to Spain (seriously, look it up). Christmas was nativity scenes, BAD carol singing (sooo bad! too slow!! and no Santa/Christmas songs, just carols) going to church (mibbes) and barely even saying Merry Christmas in whatever language! The (horrendously bad) TV *closed down* with the National Anthem at 10 pm... maybe 11 pm?... so no Christmas telly to speak of.
There was NO up early, still dark, ripping open pressies... 'Santa's been!' No kids all over the streets on their new bikes... no turkey in the oven ('Rabbit? RABBIT?!) Nothing at all special for eats in the house we were in. We (well *I*) was suicidal, I swear. Hey, I did your Sint shite, where's my Santa?! And it was my youngest's first Christmas! And we were skint but there was feck all Christmassy and even less for buying in the shops anyway, because they'd been cleaned out for stupid fecking Sinterklaas!! I swear it was the worst Christmas of my life. Luxury problems right? but still... Sure, they'd had pressies 'from Sinterklaas' (that's another thing, everything is from him, no 'ooh, see what I got from Auntie Flo...'... none of it!) but what about Santa Claus?... '...the night before Christmas and all through the house...' All of it! I was bereft.
Now this will have been different in other households no doubt, but this was my experience almost 40 years ago. Santa Claus did not exist in NL then and Christmas as celebrated in the UK did not happen. And it still doesn't, although bizzarely Santa has made more and more of an appearance over the years. A lot of Dutch keep the Sint 'for the kids' HAH! and I've seen myself at office do's making Zwarte Piet hats for all the office workers' kids and shouting 'Dag, Sinterklaas!' too, and being spoken to in a deep voice (must be that soot again) by Peter and handed sweets and laughed and played the whole game with the rest of them. But then the grown-ups (nowadays) 'do' Christmas but they still just don't GET it. Sigh.
There are shops here that get absolutely pilloried for having anything Christmas before the Sint has left the country on 6 December, but the confusion is still there and the mix of Sint and Santa abounds. Now that'd be early enough really... that's not much later than the start of the sweety advent calendar (I'm a heathen, you can tell)... I can live with that. I very much dislike the UK carry-on of Christmassy things at the end of October already! But they still get it wrong here because there is no Santa's grotto to be found even in the biggest department stores, not an elf to be seen, and presents are for Sinterklaas time so kids don't even expect anything! It's weird and I will never get used to it and will never stop objecting to it either.
Now I know, 'real' Christmas is supposed to be about the nativity... but they don't even do the nativity plays in schools... not even the 'Christian' primaries - something to do with political correctness I think. So there's no tea-cloth on the head with a snake belt, no fighting about who gets to be the angel, who's Mary... hmmm, that could be a good thing actually, but you know what I mean. I just miss it all, and have done for so many years it's ridiculous.
We strived (well, I did) to keep 'Christmas' alive in this house so while the kids were small, we did the whole Sinterklaas thing... we do live here after all... and had Christmas mornings and Christmas dinner (once I finally found where to get a bloody turkey!) As normal as possible when there are no pals to show your new stuff too and the Dutch kids just don't get it. Our girls were lucky that way I suppose but of course as they got older we dropped the Sint, and early Christmas Mornings changed to late Christmas Eves. But still dinner, still presents.
Things have changed here and new UK/US/OZ arrivals are not quite so alienated around Christmas, you can at least get decorations now! (seriously, they were all used at birthdays before!) Turkeys are to be had without special order, toy shops are certainly restocked in time, there's chocolate Santas to be had and the Christmas lights are better every year. But it's still not right. After almost 40 years, I'm thinking it never will be. The Sint comes and screws it all up... for me anyway. Of course I love any excuse to buy my grandsons wee pressies and I gee them up with the songs and the excitement same as anyone else and we're hoping they will be 'quite jocko' this year and not be terrified at the very idea of getting a cadeau (present).
But I'll always be a Santa girl. I did say it was confusing and conflicting didn't I? And by that I mean, as our oldest grandson lives in the UK, I feel sorry for him not getting Sinterklaas! Aww! But I've heard that his mummy is taking him to a party with one wahey! Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet are making inroads... watch out UK :)
Monday, November 23, 2015
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
A day with the deafies
I'm not one for bemoaning my lot (well, not much) but being hard of hearing (although immensely improved since getting a CI) can be a bloody bore at times. I have relatively recently discovered that being among fellow deafies, hearing aid wearers and CI implantees can be very heartening. Last Saturday was another opportunity to sport my CI and discuss things openly, knowing fairly positively that you're not boring the pants off of anyone because everyone there is in the same boat as you. It's really rather liberating!
This time it involved a wee trip to Utrecht to join the St. Plotsdoven (Society for the (Sudden) Deaf') 'Contact Day'. Not being an early riser, I took the liberty of arriving late so missed the first wee talky sessions but that's ok. I found my designated group after the tea-break where a number of items were discussed, such as 'how do your hearing problems affect your relationship?' and 'how has you hearing affected your work situation' (words to that effect). All very interesting. Among the 10 folks in my group, there wasn't one similar situation other than that we all wore a CI now. Nobody travels the same road but we all end up at the same destination :) Well, kinda, in that we all have a CI. But the results really do vary and I have to consider myself among the very luckiest.
I suppose it depends on the individual problem - if you've been totally deaf for years and you can now understand speech with your CI on, you're going to feel great about it all. I can imagine you'd be disappointed if infections after the op caused problems or adjustments still didn't improve your hearing by much. But I got a much bigger improvement to my hearing than I could have hoped for... and fast too! Plus, I wasn't totally deaf, 'only' very hard of hearing. I still think 'they' should adjust the protocol (again) for who gets a CI and when. Of course in the beginning, they were only considered for deaf people and now they are for the hard of hearing too but it's my contention - certainly after hearing some stories - that perhaps including those who are hard of hearing *before* it affects their lives too much, could be a huge advance. Too many (HoH folks) seem to have to wait until they've been almost deaf for too many years. I myself was considered to be 'on the edge' and 'might not improve enough to justify it all'... and yet it has made a huge difference to my level of hearing! I know, it's an expensive joke and all that but... I want for others what I got!
Anyway...
Lunch was yer usual tasty filled roll affair and introductions all round. Hysterically, I made a new friend my age, who lives in Almere, in the same district and with a CI only a few months after me (although at the VU and not Utrecht). I say 'hysterically' because she moved from Weesp (as did we) to Almere, only 2 months before we did - and as a joke I asked 'when's your birthday?' and she's the same month! So, may well be seeing more of her :)
After lunch was 'workshop' time. I'd signed up for 'song signing'...which I just knew I would be no good at but it was fun all the same. I was very surprised to learn it was to be 'The Animals' version of 'House of the Rising Sun' from 1965... I mean I'd expected a nursery rhyme or something easy! And as it's Dutch sign language (NmG/NGT) and that's an English song, I couldn't get my head around how that was even going to work. There's also a whole bit where it's just music, and you're supposed to use mime to cover that part and I just thought 'well that's not happening' haha.
But it was kinda fun, and very informative. I did indeed hold back at miming the empty part... just not that far gone yet!... but it was definitely possible to sign the song at the end of our little workshop. Just how interesting it would look to a proper signer is another story entirely.
Workshop no. 2 was actually mime... or at least facial expressions and how important body language is - certainly to the deaf and hard of hearing. It's rather surprising to learn something you actually instinctively know already. One of the 'games' was like Chinese Whispers... only with no whispers. Five folks stand in a row with their back to the one in front. The one at the back is shown a card with an expression they have to convey to the person in front of them. So... 'fear' for instance. That person conveys what they think shows the word they read, to the one in front of them and so on until the last of the five mimics what they understand to have been conveyed. So funny to watch, especially if the first one already doesn't really pass on anything useful! The end results were really comical and well worth trying at a party too - two word combinations were even funnier, like 'worried and sad'... how the hell do you do that?!
We were then split into groups of 3 or 4 and given an object we had to do a tableau for, which portrayed a story around the item and the other groups had to guess what yours was. We had a book and used it as a bible with a 'marriage ceremony' happening - they got it, although I'm not sure how.
All in all, a fun, informative and interesting 'contact day' held by the society which ended in the usual half hour of drinkypoos and canapes. I've been to a few of their gatherings now and always been glad I went so it all augers well. Nice bunch of folks, well organised and worth chewing through the straps and making the effort for. I even got a lift part of the way home so for the first time experienced being in a car full of deafies... very relaxing because you know, they know and you know, they know you know... you know?
When's the next one?
This time it involved a wee trip to Utrecht to join the St. Plotsdoven (Society for the (Sudden) Deaf') 'Contact Day'. Not being an early riser, I took the liberty of arriving late so missed the first wee talky sessions but that's ok. I found my designated group after the tea-break where a number of items were discussed, such as 'how do your hearing problems affect your relationship?' and 'how has you hearing affected your work situation' (words to that effect). All very interesting. Among the 10 folks in my group, there wasn't one similar situation other than that we all wore a CI now. Nobody travels the same road but we all end up at the same destination :) Well, kinda, in that we all have a CI. But the results really do vary and I have to consider myself among the very luckiest.
I suppose it depends on the individual problem - if you've been totally deaf for years and you can now understand speech with your CI on, you're going to feel great about it all. I can imagine you'd be disappointed if infections after the op caused problems or adjustments still didn't improve your hearing by much. But I got a much bigger improvement to my hearing than I could have hoped for... and fast too! Plus, I wasn't totally deaf, 'only' very hard of hearing. I still think 'they' should adjust the protocol (again) for who gets a CI and when. Of course in the beginning, they were only considered for deaf people and now they are for the hard of hearing too but it's my contention - certainly after hearing some stories - that perhaps including those who are hard of hearing *before* it affects their lives too much, could be a huge advance. Too many (HoH folks) seem to have to wait until they've been almost deaf for too many years. I myself was considered to be 'on the edge' and 'might not improve enough to justify it all'... and yet it has made a huge difference to my level of hearing! I know, it's an expensive joke and all that but... I want for others what I got!
Anyway...
Lunch was yer usual tasty filled roll affair and introductions all round. Hysterically, I made a new friend my age, who lives in Almere, in the same district and with a CI only a few months after me (although at the VU and not Utrecht). I say 'hysterically' because she moved from Weesp (as did we) to Almere, only 2 months before we did - and as a joke I asked 'when's your birthday?' and she's the same month! So, may well be seeing more of her :)
After lunch was 'workshop' time. I'd signed up for 'song signing'...which I just knew I would be no good at but it was fun all the same. I was very surprised to learn it was to be 'The Animals' version of 'House of the Rising Sun' from 1965... I mean I'd expected a nursery rhyme or something easy! And as it's Dutch sign language (NmG/NGT) and that's an English song, I couldn't get my head around how that was even going to work. There's also a whole bit where it's just music, and you're supposed to use mime to cover that part and I just thought 'well that's not happening' haha.
But it was kinda fun, and very informative. I did indeed hold back at miming the empty part... just not that far gone yet!... but it was definitely possible to sign the song at the end of our little workshop. Just how interesting it would look to a proper signer is another story entirely.
Workshop no. 2 was actually mime... or at least facial expressions and how important body language is - certainly to the deaf and hard of hearing. It's rather surprising to learn something you actually instinctively know already. One of the 'games' was like Chinese Whispers... only with no whispers. Five folks stand in a row with their back to the one in front. The one at the back is shown a card with an expression they have to convey to the person in front of them. So... 'fear' for instance. That person conveys what they think shows the word they read, to the one in front of them and so on until the last of the five mimics what they understand to have been conveyed. So funny to watch, especially if the first one already doesn't really pass on anything useful! The end results were really comical and well worth trying at a party too - two word combinations were even funnier, like 'worried and sad'... how the hell do you do that?!
We were then split into groups of 3 or 4 and given an object we had to do a tableau for, which portrayed a story around the item and the other groups had to guess what yours was. We had a book and used it as a bible with a 'marriage ceremony' happening - they got it, although I'm not sure how.
All in all, a fun, informative and interesting 'contact day' held by the society which ended in the usual half hour of drinkypoos and canapes. I've been to a few of their gatherings now and always been glad I went so it all augers well. Nice bunch of folks, well organised and worth chewing through the straps and making the effort for. I even got a lift part of the way home so for the first time experienced being in a car full of deafies... very relaxing because you know, they know and you know, they know you know... you know?
When's the next one?
Monday, August 24, 2015
So sorry...
When our Em' was small, the night before her 4th birthday she had a wee pet lip and upon further investigation we heard that she 'felt so sorry for her three' (NL = 'ik vind het zielig voor mijn drie'). This cute little thought has stuck over the years - at least in my head - and I tend to repeat it the night before every birthday or anniversary relative to myself, my man and our two girls ...and now their families. Daft I know but it's bloody cute, you have to admit. Emma's own wee darlin' will have to come up with his own little phrase in only 3 months time when he turns four. I feel so sorry for his three!
Today I've already said 'I feel so sorry for my 41'... as tomorrow is our 42nd wedding anniversary. No mean feat, and I do feel sorry for all those years that are now gone... not least because there sure ain't another 42 to go! Of course I'm happy to enter our 43rd year (47 or even 48 or 49 depending on if you add on our prior friendship!) - as happy as Emma was to celebrate her 4th birthday (big school!). Quite how an almost 4 year old came up with that we'll never know but it really does give pause for thought. None of your 'happy to turn xx...' ... think about being sorry for all that has passed... it's a quicker period of contemplation when you do it annually but the older years, further back, always tend to creep in anyway when you're reminiscing. I don't mean regrets, it's not that at all. Just that it has passed and can now only be a memory... good and/or bad.
I'll be saying 'I feel sorry for my 60' in a few months... where the hell did that go? I never used to understand it when 'older' folks said about time rushing by the older you get. Well now I'm older (aka 'old'!) and I know just exactly what they meant. How can my kids already be way older than I was when... (fill in the gap)? How can we be those old folks already that we spoke of turning into 30 years ago? ('eeww, I'm going to have to sleep with an old man!') Thon old chestnut 'You're only as old as (the woman) you feel' is no longer suitably comical to my man hahaha...
Getting old sucks but yes, it's a privilege denied many so aye, I'm grateful and do intend sticking around for a long while yet (aiming for my telegramme from somebody!). But it's all so arbitrary. Our (UK) generation is the first to have grown old and never to have closely experienced war, which tends to wipe out young folks before their time (not counting the Falklands as I wasn't in the UK then already, nor for other 'conflicts' that are not all out war). Although folks do generally live longer, healthier lives, everyone dies eventually, which I thoroughly object to! It's those dying 'before their time' that just isn't right in my eyes - for whatever reason, whatever cause.
This whole 'I feel sorry for my xx' gets more intense as I grow older because, while it was comical all those years ago, it gets ever more serious, the older we all get. I do feel sorry it's all gone! I don't exactly want to be 25 again (nononono) but this getting old shit sucks big time. And 60 was a real milestone. 50 I could just about handle, then the next 10 years flew by... flew I tell you!... and then you're literally written off, by society in general. Which I refuse to comply with but still... it's a fact!
I'm not depressed about it at all, it's not that. It's just that to have finally reached an age where I feel big and ugly enough to open my gob now and then, nobody wants to bloody hear what I have to say. Of course there are older people than I am, in authority, way more clever and very much listened to but, bottom line?... they're still old!... and I have to stop myself feeling 'sorry for their xx'.
So anyway... enough blethers... we're off out for a celebratory lunch tomorrow to cheer on year no. 43. And many more!
Today I've already said 'I feel so sorry for my 41'... as tomorrow is our 42nd wedding anniversary. No mean feat, and I do feel sorry for all those years that are now gone... not least because there sure ain't another 42 to go! Of course I'm happy to enter our 43rd year (47 or even 48 or 49 depending on if you add on our prior friendship!) - as happy as Emma was to celebrate her 4th birthday (big school!). Quite how an almost 4 year old came up with that we'll never know but it really does give pause for thought. None of your 'happy to turn xx...' ... think about being sorry for all that has passed... it's a quicker period of contemplation when you do it annually but the older years, further back, always tend to creep in anyway when you're reminiscing. I don't mean regrets, it's not that at all. Just that it has passed and can now only be a memory... good and/or bad.
I'll be saying 'I feel sorry for my 60' in a few months... where the hell did that go? I never used to understand it when 'older' folks said about time rushing by the older you get. Well now I'm older (aka 'old'!) and I know just exactly what they meant. How can my kids already be way older than I was when... (fill in the gap)? How can we be those old folks already that we spoke of turning into 30 years ago? ('eeww, I'm going to have to sleep with an old man!') Thon old chestnut 'You're only as old as (the woman) you feel' is no longer suitably comical to my man hahaha...
Getting old sucks but yes, it's a privilege denied many so aye, I'm grateful and do intend sticking around for a long while yet (aiming for my telegramme from somebody!). But it's all so arbitrary. Our (UK) generation is the first to have grown old and never to have closely experienced war, which tends to wipe out young folks before their time (not counting the Falklands as I wasn't in the UK then already, nor for other 'conflicts' that are not all out war). Although folks do generally live longer, healthier lives, everyone dies eventually, which I thoroughly object to! It's those dying 'before their time' that just isn't right in my eyes - for whatever reason, whatever cause.
This whole 'I feel sorry for my xx' gets more intense as I grow older because, while it was comical all those years ago, it gets ever more serious, the older we all get. I do feel sorry it's all gone! I don't exactly want to be 25 again (nononono) but this getting old shit sucks big time. And 60 was a real milestone. 50 I could just about handle, then the next 10 years flew by... flew I tell you!... and then you're literally written off, by society in general. Which I refuse to comply with but still... it's a fact!
I'm not depressed about it at all, it's not that. It's just that to have finally reached an age where I feel big and ugly enough to open my gob now and then, nobody wants to bloody hear what I have to say. Of course there are older people than I am, in authority, way more clever and very much listened to but, bottom line?... they're still old!... and I have to stop myself feeling 'sorry for their xx'.
So anyway... enough blethers... we're off out for a celebratory lunch tomorrow to cheer on year no. 43. And many more!
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
T-shirts and hoarders
I want to write here about t-shirts because they've been very prevalent in my existence over the last few days. This is again about ironing to a certain extent because, in this house, although it doesn't get done very often, it does get done when the guilt takes over, or when I'm feeling in a particular mood. Can't quite pin-point it (so I could avoid it!) but something gets me up that stair and ironing, every now and again.
So I started on the never-ending pile of t-shirts that J has accumulated over the years. When I say years, I don't mean years of not being ironed, just years of buying. Although we'll be ignoring J's cries of 'I haven't seen this one in years!', because that's patent nonsense... ahem.
I try and circulate them, honestly. On the occasions I do a pile, I do try not to do those that just came out of the wash because, well, we've just seen that one. I'm now of the opinion that he goes up there every so often and mixes the buggers up because I do sort them, and roll them up (for later ironing) but there's always one he hasn't seen in ages and particularly wants.... after the fact... grrrrr.
There are so many it's getting ridiculous but he won't part with a one. Not. A. One. I can get him as far as piling up those he really-cannot-wear-but-can't-part-with. There are also those that are dated-but-definitely-can't-go, and those, like 'beer adverts' that do nobody any favours. So those types are piled (25 ironed t-shirts!) in a basket, taking up room on top of the dryer. There are the 40 or so that have been in the we-never-wear-this-shit-but-will-never-part-with-just-in-case-we-do cupboard for years already, and there's the 40 or so in a big box in his wardrobe (all football related I might add) but that still leaves... how many? I still need to count but the shelves are piled high, 2 piles deep. Neatly, but jeezo, hahaha!
There's the music related ones... loads of Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa of course. Loads of concerts we've been to of all sorts - those are always dated, which in turn dates the shirt, but that's fine... 'hey, we were there!' Loads of bands, favourite singers, individual musicians. Then there's the holiday type ones - places we've been, sights we've seen, (we've been around so there's loads of them). Arty ones... favourites like Van Gogh, Escher, Miro. Then there's the inevitable Che Guevara one which was bought only last year to finally replace the much regretted original one from the '70s which he gave away in the '80s to a kid that asked for it... it was at least 10 years old then, but it still hurts that he parted with it.
I get it, I do! I'm not saying he should dump 'em. I have suggested I cut up the older ones and make a patchwork quilt of his oldest and most favourite ones but... 'not yet'. Which is probably for the best as I'm not sure I can do patchwork, it's just an idea I have.
I myself am the world's worst (best?) at keeping old things we really don't need - the boxes behind the curtain under the eaves upstairs, filled with old Christmas cards (for instance) are witness to that - but we have been on a bit of a clear-out vendetta these last weeks so are doing well actually. Today even, there are 5, that's five! old hard drives being collected by special rubbish lorry - that and a huge bag of dud HA batteries. He's only just emptied a drawer where I've been stashing magazines (so many it'll make the paper wheely -bin too heavy) and they're all clubby type mags... we don't buy glossies but are members of this and that and they all have magazines. His room is currently an obstacle course of old computers and bits of computer, CDs and books, multiple mobile phones, cameras and.... just stuff! It's kinda shocking and actually quite the miracle that our house still looks fairly livable... considering.
So... t-shirts. They're kinda 'indicative' perhaps? Indicative of rampant consumerism that is bordering on the criminal. Well, not criminal but... not nice. If we tossed the old stuff as soon as new was bought, we'd be 'consuming' just as much but would look less like hoarders, which I dare say we are, to a lesser degree. We're really not like those total horrors you see on 'The Hoarder Next Door' or something, but we are quite bad and t-shirts are probably the least of it. We do try to give stuff away but rarely manage to please anyone - always nice when you do isn't it? We've never had much luck at selling anything, even for a pittance, and well, it's understandable, nobody wants other folks' junk - but to then just dump stuff? So we hang on to it 'just in case' and 30 years later we find it again and it still hurts to dump it.
But t-shirts? They each have their own story, memory, and ach, it's just a t-shirt eh? 'Do you remember where I bought this?' (I very often do!) and 'oh you can't toss that one!' In a way they tell a bit of a story. We were there, we did this or that, we saw them! The fact that some, while not exactly moth-eaten are not very presentable (in as presentable a state as a t-shirt can be) still doesn't take away from their little story.
So now they're all ironed, and if he wears a clean one every day for 8 weeks I still won't have to iron another one. That'll do me.
ADDENDUM: Counted! 133 T-shirts!!! One Hundred and Thirty Three!!
(oh, and 10 (TEN!) old hard drives, not 5, are still awaiting collection.)
So I started on the never-ending pile of t-shirts that J has accumulated over the years. When I say years, I don't mean years of not being ironed, just years of buying. Although we'll be ignoring J's cries of 'I haven't seen this one in years!', because that's patent nonsense... ahem.
I try and circulate them, honestly. On the occasions I do a pile, I do try not to do those that just came out of the wash because, well, we've just seen that one. I'm now of the opinion that he goes up there every so often and mixes the buggers up because I do sort them, and roll them up (for later ironing) but there's always one he hasn't seen in ages and particularly wants.... after the fact... grrrrr.
There are so many it's getting ridiculous but he won't part with a one. Not. A. One. I can get him as far as piling up those he really-cannot-wear-but-can't-part-with. There are also those that are dated-but-definitely-can't-go, and those, like 'beer adverts' that do nobody any favours. So those types are piled (25 ironed t-shirts!) in a basket, taking up room on top of the dryer. There are the 40 or so that have been in the we-never-wear-this-shit-but-will-never-part-with-just-in-case-we-do cupboard for years already, and there's the 40 or so in a big box in his wardrobe (all football related I might add) but that still leaves... how many? I still need to count but the shelves are piled high, 2 piles deep. Neatly, but jeezo, hahaha!
There's the music related ones... loads of Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa of course. Loads of concerts we've been to of all sorts - those are always dated, which in turn dates the shirt, but that's fine... 'hey, we were there!' Loads of bands, favourite singers, individual musicians. Then there's the holiday type ones - places we've been, sights we've seen, (we've been around so there's loads of them). Arty ones... favourites like Van Gogh, Escher, Miro. Then there's the inevitable Che Guevara one which was bought only last year to finally replace the much regretted original one from the '70s which he gave away in the '80s to a kid that asked for it... it was at least 10 years old then, but it still hurts that he parted with it.
I get it, I do! I'm not saying he should dump 'em. I have suggested I cut up the older ones and make a patchwork quilt of his oldest and most favourite ones but... 'not yet'. Which is probably for the best as I'm not sure I can do patchwork, it's just an idea I have.
I myself am the world's worst (best?) at keeping old things we really don't need - the boxes behind the curtain under the eaves upstairs, filled with old Christmas cards (for instance) are witness to that - but we have been on a bit of a clear-out vendetta these last weeks so are doing well actually. Today even, there are 5, that's five! old hard drives being collected by special rubbish lorry - that and a huge bag of dud HA batteries. He's only just emptied a drawer where I've been stashing magazines (so many it'll make the paper wheely -bin too heavy) and they're all clubby type mags... we don't buy glossies but are members of this and that and they all have magazines. His room is currently an obstacle course of old computers and bits of computer, CDs and books, multiple mobile phones, cameras and.... just stuff! It's kinda shocking and actually quite the miracle that our house still looks fairly livable... considering.
So... t-shirts. They're kinda 'indicative' perhaps? Indicative of rampant consumerism that is bordering on the criminal. Well, not criminal but... not nice. If we tossed the old stuff as soon as new was bought, we'd be 'consuming' just as much but would look less like hoarders, which I dare say we are, to a lesser degree. We're really not like those total horrors you see on 'The Hoarder Next Door' or something, but we are quite bad and t-shirts are probably the least of it. We do try to give stuff away but rarely manage to please anyone - always nice when you do isn't it? We've never had much luck at selling anything, even for a pittance, and well, it's understandable, nobody wants other folks' junk - but to then just dump stuff? So we hang on to it 'just in case' and 30 years later we find it again and it still hurts to dump it.
But t-shirts? They each have their own story, memory, and ach, it's just a t-shirt eh? 'Do you remember where I bought this?' (I very often do!) and 'oh you can't toss that one!' In a way they tell a bit of a story. We were there, we did this or that, we saw them! The fact that some, while not exactly moth-eaten are not very presentable (in as presentable a state as a t-shirt can be) still doesn't take away from their little story.
So now they're all ironed, and if he wears a clean one every day for 8 weeks I still won't have to iron another one. That'll do me.
ADDENDUM: Counted! 133 T-shirts!!! One Hundred and Thirty Three!!
(oh, and 10 (TEN!) old hard drives, not 5, are still awaiting collection.)
Monday, April 13, 2015
Itchy Ears
Haha, not really, I'm just giving this blog an ear-ish connection because although it does say above 'this may or may not descend...', I have until now kept it to all things CI. But I have been birling my brains about 'the washing' all this morning (guilt, no doubt) and it got me wondering... am I the only one with the problem?
I actually know the answer right off as (naming no names) I know for sure that it's something others fight to ignore and struggle to keep ahead of. I know there are others around with huge piles of clean laundry not yet folded, or worse, ironed... and put away! But I just don't remember it always having been such a nightmare. I swear the stuff breeds and multiplies when I'm not looking!
I have a little picture hanging above my usually redundant ironing-board. It reads ''Sort - today. Wash - tomorrow. Fold - sometime. Iron - HAHA' I printed it out specially when I saw it online somewhere and it makes me smile every time I see it (which after all isn't so regularly, it being above the ironing-board).
I know folks (again, no names ;) ) that don't even have an ironing-board and just plain refuse to do it. It's not like they immediately fold and/or hang either! And yet they (not saying, so don't ask) still look smashing and not at all crumpled. I just don't get it. I do still need to iron, even if I don't do it all that often (where to hang the bloody stuff is a nightmare as it is) and tend to belong to the school of when-I'm-going-somewhere-and-need-that-top.
The washing part is of course a doddle... although after 45 years of doing my own washing I still manage to dye everything pink at regular intervals. First: separate, Caroline! And I do, but then something red that has been washed five times already all of a sudden leeches out and we're wearing pink pants for the duration. But ok, separate, but ach, not enough whites this time around, I'll just shove these lightly coloured ones in... wrong again... pink pants again!
I don't hang the wash out any more... the washing machine is two flights up and lugging it all up and down every time... nawnaw, feck that. So we've used the dryer except for woollies for a long time now and it's getting so I use it for the woolies too now and then... ach well.
When first married, we lived near the same steamie my mum had gone to. It was a bit out of favour by then but still got a fair crowd of washer wummin... so me too. I loved it! I remember having been put in the nursery upstairs while mum washed, but no more than once (mum must have found some other solution for me). Such a great solution though! It's such a shame the steamies closed. Big deep sinks and scrubbing boards, loads of hot water, a boiler for doing your whites, giant clothes-horses you drew out of the wall and hung your wash - sheets and towels, the lot - to dry in the hot air blown through them (none of your tumbling) and big roller presses to get the sheets and duvet covers done in a jiffy. Plus lots of chatty women to help you fold and show you the ropes if you were new.
We moved house after a wee while and I then went regularly to one in Leith together with a pal, but it was 'modernised' and they had tumbler dryers. Just not the same. And by then we had a twin-tub... I did love my twin-tub but you had to do the work too and couldn't just leave it like we do now.
About this pile of clean laundry then. The three or four loads of fluffy, tumble-dried detritus of our wardrobes and shelves. The giant pile that deters all-comers that may or may not be looking for that particular t-shirt. I suppose I'm lucky in that I at least have somewhere for it all that's not immediately 'in yer face'. But the other side of that coin is... I can very easily and conveniently, and regularly do, 'forget' about it. I'm great at that!
I just don't remember it being like this when the kids were small... maybe I kept ahead of things better then? Dirty washing is easily hidden, just cram that hamper (and keep the lid on!) and you're golden. Of course it eventually needs to be tackled (sorted, yeahyeah), and shifted, but at a pinch, your bedroom can still look neat enough even with a load needing done. But this clean laundry pile... what do folks do with it?
Well that's also a bit of a rhetorical question because I know the answer to that one too. You're either just like me - lucky enough to have a hidey-hole/extra room for it - or you're just like the others I know (ahem) who have it in bags behind that cupboard or piled onto that bedroom chair or (also) scattered where they threw it on collecting it from the drier - usually the bedroom floor.
I've actually spoken with people who like folding and love ironing and cannot get my head around that at all. I personally find it mind-numbing and soul destroying. It should be banned. I propose an all-out EU-wide ban. You folding and ironing lovers out there need to be protected, it's for your own good. I might just start an on-line petition, see how many sigs it gets eh?
So anyway, enough blethers for today, I'm away to do my washing.
I actually know the answer right off as (naming no names) I know for sure that it's something others fight to ignore and struggle to keep ahead of. I know there are others around with huge piles of clean laundry not yet folded, or worse, ironed... and put away! But I just don't remember it always having been such a nightmare. I swear the stuff breeds and multiplies when I'm not looking!
I have a little picture hanging above my usually redundant ironing-board. It reads ''Sort - today. Wash - tomorrow. Fold - sometime. Iron - HAHA' I printed it out specially when I saw it online somewhere and it makes me smile every time I see it (which after all isn't so regularly, it being above the ironing-board).
I know folks (again, no names ;) ) that don't even have an ironing-board and just plain refuse to do it. It's not like they immediately fold and/or hang either! And yet they (not saying, so don't ask) still look smashing and not at all crumpled. I just don't get it. I do still need to iron, even if I don't do it all that often (where to hang the bloody stuff is a nightmare as it is) and tend to belong to the school of when-I'm-going-somewhere-and-need-that-top.
The washing part is of course a doddle... although after 45 years of doing my own washing I still manage to dye everything pink at regular intervals. First: separate, Caroline! And I do, but then something red that has been washed five times already all of a sudden leeches out and we're wearing pink pants for the duration. But ok, separate, but ach, not enough whites this time around, I'll just shove these lightly coloured ones in... wrong again... pink pants again!
I don't hang the wash out any more... the washing machine is two flights up and lugging it all up and down every time... nawnaw, feck that. So we've used the dryer except for woollies for a long time now and it's getting so I use it for the woolies too now and then... ach well.
We moved house after a wee while and I then went regularly to one in Leith together with a pal, but it was 'modernised' and they had tumbler dryers. Just not the same. And by then we had a twin-tub... I did love my twin-tub but you had to do the work too and couldn't just leave it like we do now.
About this pile of clean laundry then. The three or four loads of fluffy, tumble-dried detritus of our wardrobes and shelves. The giant pile that deters all-comers that may or may not be looking for that particular t-shirt. I suppose I'm lucky in that I at least have somewhere for it all that's not immediately 'in yer face'. But the other side of that coin is... I can very easily and conveniently, and regularly do, 'forget' about it. I'm great at that!
I just don't remember it being like this when the kids were small... maybe I kept ahead of things better then? Dirty washing is easily hidden, just cram that hamper (and keep the lid on!) and you're golden. Of course it eventually needs to be tackled (sorted, yeahyeah), and shifted, but at a pinch, your bedroom can still look neat enough even with a load needing done. But this clean laundry pile... what do folks do with it?
Well that's also a bit of a rhetorical question because I know the answer to that one too. You're either just like me - lucky enough to have a hidey-hole/extra room for it - or you're just like the others I know (ahem) who have it in bags behind that cupboard or piled onto that bedroom chair or (also) scattered where they threw it on collecting it from the drier - usually the bedroom floor.
I've actually spoken with people who like folding and love ironing and cannot get my head around that at all. I personally find it mind-numbing and soul destroying. It should be banned. I propose an all-out EU-wide ban. You folding and ironing lovers out there need to be protected, it's for your own good. I might just start an on-line petition, see how many sigs it gets eh?
So anyway, enough blethers for today, I'm away to do my washing.
Tuesday, April 07, 2015
Med-El and Van Gogh
Not that those two are a proper pair, but I was recently at Med-El's Care Center in Nieuwegein (by Utrecht) and also at the (offices of) the Van Gogh Museum. Both were interesting so I'll write a bit about them.
In my mind's eye, I had thought that Med-El's Care Center (hate spelling it like that but it's how they do it) would just be a small shop, like a HA shop. Instead it comprised a number of offices and reception rooms on the ground floor of a large building, very accessible from the snel-tram stop. It was their 'open day' and there was to be a presentation by someone from Comfort Audio about 'solo apparatuur' and that seemed handy to me as I do already have wireless mics from them that I had been using at Tai Chi lessons (to great advantage) but couldn't seem to connect them to the computer. They're been around for years as I used them in the office a hundred years ago when I had an employer so really I just thought they are out of date but useful enough. I've been stuck with just the Oticon (HA) streamer on just one ear since I got the CI so had questions aplenty.
First we had the obligatory cuppa and a biscuit and chatting about things (and I finally met someone else wearing a Rondo!) then we ('bout 10-12 of us) were given the totally relaxed, no pressure, spiel about all things Comfort Audio. We were given the latest model to try out during the presentation but I couldn't hear anything via the one I had so that was a bit worrisome. I wouldn't want to (eventually) upgrade if I'm not going to be able to hear via it. As per, upon return home, it transpired that the volume just needed adjusting :)
So that was embarrassing! AND it turns out I had the necessary cable for my 'Stratego' to laptop all along! In the pile I took with me too :) So, while it IS still a bit of a rigmarol as I now have two things around my neck when using Skype or listening to music, whatever, via the laptop... the streamer for the HA, the Comfort Contego for the CI... the sound is so much improved I can live with it :) It's not exactly spontaneous but that too, I can live with. For now anyway.
Thanks to Mel-El staff for the lovely reception. One girl I met turned out to be the very one I'd emailed back and forth about the WaterWear so we were like old pals already. Nice friendly folks, as was the gentleman from Comfort, whom I think I'd met before too. It gets all very incestuous among CI clubs and you do end up meeting the same folks (of course) and seeing the same faces. My biggest problem is, I'm totally useless at names, and to be honest, faces aren't great either. I'm usually inwardly saying 'I KNOW this person... don't I... or do I?' Caroline from Med-El, believe me when I say that it was mostly due to our similar names that I remembered you hahaha.
Anyway, all worth the 'effort' to pay a visit.
The thing with the van Gogh (vG) was, an email posting around - 'looking for folks to take part' in a survey, especially formulated for the museum in Amsterdam to better accommodate HoH and deaf visitors. Having been a fan of Vincent since my late teens, I signed up immediately and was given a date and time to come and take part. It was held in their offices on the Stadhouderskade in Amsterdam, so not actually at the museum. I never knew there was such a place. Really lovely offices, with modern furniture upholstered in material covered in van Gogh's paintings. So cool! And display cabinets full of stuff probably to be found in the museum's shop, so all things vG :)
There were only three of us, one of four groups 'interviewed' on different dates and times. I was showing off my Rondo with my vG stickers, which of course went down well, given the situation. The interviewer was a lovely (deaf) person hired by the vG to do a scientific survey of the needs of the deaf and HoH visitors to their museum. Very commendable, no?
We all know about ramps and disabled access, but being deaf is also a (hidden) disability that would be much less of a hindrance if public buildings (at the LEAST) took a bit of notice and provided cover. Much like the cover being given during the interview as there was a sign interpreter and a subtitle typing interpreter with a big and small screen (for just us three! amazing!). No real idea any more of what I said, or whether I contributed anything of any use to anyone, but we were richly rewarded for our 'trouble'. Fares refunded, two free entrance tickets to the vG and a gift coupon for €15! Above and beyond really, but I didn't say no :)
Public places are supposed to provide (in NL at least) audio loops when required. These are more often than not, inoperable, when requested IF they're even present. Batteries dead, not switched on, or switched on but not loud enough). I found out that it's not just me that is disappointed by the lack of provision (it's LAW after all) and that it's too often the case that we (the deaf and HoH) are not thought of at all. The fact that the vG is actively pursuing said problem is pretty damned cool IMO. Audio loops are of course no use to the deaf so the theater here using computer tablets with simultaneous sub-titles is also to be hugely commended. There are loads of little things that needn't even be expensive to implement that would have us deafies attending more museums and theatres (at least, potentially). Even just a normal film! I'm lucky in that I automatically have (Dutch) subtitles to English films in the cinema here. But the normal Dutch film is no use to me (or your bonafide Dutch person) as it's not sub-titled. Logical enough I suppose - but they could maybe have separate cinemas for that, like they do (here) with 'original English version' and 'Dutch speaking version'. There are ways and means.
I did discover, from the subtitling interpreter, although I did kinda know it already, that we (HoH/deaf) are covered to hire in one of their ilk for any occasion... office conference, school situations, even a party if that's what you want, and it includes museum visits too! Bloomin' fantastic really. Personally I'd be a bit reluctant unless it was a really big occasion and I didn't want to miss anything said, but the interpreter assured us that we should just ignore their presence. Easier said than done but they're even working on a mobile bit of apparatus so they can lug their keyboard around too. Sort of like what the cigarette girl at the cinema used to have in front of her :) Having just placed that link I now know they're called STTR's in English :) formally known as court reporters. Aha!
One of these days I might just call upon one of them. It's a cool thing to see actually and because of course not everyone (including me) reads sign language, they are a terrific service. I would never be able to follow things in larger groups without one of them, despite my fabby CI and really appreciate them being arranged at all CI folks' gatherings. Funnily enough, the utility is not nearly widely enough used and they always look for ways to promote their hiring. They should perhaps be careful what they wish for because if word really does get out, there will be a run on them and a corresponding lack of qualified individuals :)
So once more, my CI got me out and about and doin' my bit too.
In my mind's eye, I had thought that Med-El's Care Center (hate spelling it like that but it's how they do it) would just be a small shop, like a HA shop. Instead it comprised a number of offices and reception rooms on the ground floor of a large building, very accessible from the snel-tram stop. It was their 'open day' and there was to be a presentation by someone from Comfort Audio about 'solo apparatuur' and that seemed handy to me as I do already have wireless mics from them that I had been using at Tai Chi lessons (to great advantage) but couldn't seem to connect them to the computer. They're been around for years as I used them in the office a hundred years ago when I had an employer so really I just thought they are out of date but useful enough. I've been stuck with just the Oticon (HA) streamer on just one ear since I got the CI so had questions aplenty.
First we had the obligatory cuppa and a biscuit and chatting about things (and I finally met someone else wearing a Rondo!) then we ('bout 10-12 of us) were given the totally relaxed, no pressure, spiel about all things Comfort Audio. We were given the latest model to try out during the presentation but I couldn't hear anything via the one I had so that was a bit worrisome. I wouldn't want to (eventually) upgrade if I'm not going to be able to hear via it. As per, upon return home, it transpired that the volume just needed adjusting :)
So that was embarrassing! AND it turns out I had the necessary cable for my 'Stratego' to laptop all along! In the pile I took with me too :) So, while it IS still a bit of a rigmarol as I now have two things around my neck when using Skype or listening to music, whatever, via the laptop... the streamer for the HA, the Comfort Contego for the CI... the sound is so much improved I can live with it :) It's not exactly spontaneous but that too, I can live with. For now anyway.
Thanks to Mel-El staff for the lovely reception. One girl I met turned out to be the very one I'd emailed back and forth about the WaterWear so we were like old pals already. Nice friendly folks, as was the gentleman from Comfort, whom I think I'd met before too. It gets all very incestuous among CI clubs and you do end up meeting the same folks (of course) and seeing the same faces. My biggest problem is, I'm totally useless at names, and to be honest, faces aren't great either. I'm usually inwardly saying 'I KNOW this person... don't I... or do I?' Caroline from Med-El, believe me when I say that it was mostly due to our similar names that I remembered you hahaha.
Anyway, all worth the 'effort' to pay a visit.
The thing with the van Gogh (vG) was, an email posting around - 'looking for folks to take part' in a survey, especially formulated for the museum in Amsterdam to better accommodate HoH and deaf visitors. Having been a fan of Vincent since my late teens, I signed up immediately and was given a date and time to come and take part. It was held in their offices on the Stadhouderskade in Amsterdam, so not actually at the museum. I never knew there was such a place. Really lovely offices, with modern furniture upholstered in material covered in van Gogh's paintings. So cool! And display cabinets full of stuff probably to be found in the museum's shop, so all things vG :)
There were only three of us, one of four groups 'interviewed' on different dates and times. I was showing off my Rondo with my vG stickers, which of course went down well, given the situation. The interviewer was a lovely (deaf) person hired by the vG to do a scientific survey of the needs of the deaf and HoH visitors to their museum. Very commendable, no?
We all know about ramps and disabled access, but being deaf is also a (hidden) disability that would be much less of a hindrance if public buildings (at the LEAST) took a bit of notice and provided cover. Much like the cover being given during the interview as there was a sign interpreter and a subtitle typing interpreter with a big and small screen (for just us three! amazing!). No real idea any more of what I said, or whether I contributed anything of any use to anyone, but we were richly rewarded for our 'trouble'. Fares refunded, two free entrance tickets to the vG and a gift coupon for €15! Above and beyond really, but I didn't say no :)
Public places are supposed to provide (in NL at least) audio loops when required. These are more often than not, inoperable, when requested IF they're even present. Batteries dead, not switched on, or switched on but not loud enough). I found out that it's not just me that is disappointed by the lack of provision (it's LAW after all) and that it's too often the case that we (the deaf and HoH) are not thought of at all. The fact that the vG is actively pursuing said problem is pretty damned cool IMO. Audio loops are of course no use to the deaf so the theater here using computer tablets with simultaneous sub-titles is also to be hugely commended. There are loads of little things that needn't even be expensive to implement that would have us deafies attending more museums and theatres (at least, potentially). Even just a normal film! I'm lucky in that I automatically have (Dutch) subtitles to English films in the cinema here. But the normal Dutch film is no use to me (or your bonafide Dutch person) as it's not sub-titled. Logical enough I suppose - but they could maybe have separate cinemas for that, like they do (here) with 'original English version' and 'Dutch speaking version'. There are ways and means.
I did discover, from the subtitling interpreter, although I did kinda know it already, that we (HoH/deaf) are covered to hire in one of their ilk for any occasion... office conference, school situations, even a party if that's what you want, and it includes museum visits too! Bloomin' fantastic really. Personally I'd be a bit reluctant unless it was a really big occasion and I didn't want to miss anything said, but the interpreter assured us that we should just ignore their presence. Easier said than done but they're even working on a mobile bit of apparatus so they can lug their keyboard around too. Sort of like what the cigarette girl at the cinema used to have in front of her :) Having just placed that link I now know they're called STTR's in English :) formally known as court reporters. Aha!
One of these days I might just call upon one of them. It's a cool thing to see actually and because of course not everyone (including me) reads sign language, they are a terrific service. I would never be able to follow things in larger groups without one of them, despite my fabby CI and really appreciate them being arranged at all CI folks' gatherings. Funnily enough, the utility is not nearly widely enough used and they always look for ways to promote their hiring. They should perhaps be careful what they wish for because if word really does get out, there will be a run on them and a corresponding lack of qualified individuals :)
So once more, my CI got me out and about and doin' my bit too.
Sunday, March 08, 2015
Music and my CI
Long story short... it's not great. The end.
Short story long... I do rather miss the sounds I liked to listen to, even via my hearing aids... before. I know I missed loads even then but now, with the CI, I'm not only missing things, what I do hear is (can be) distorted. And yet you read of folks that really enjoy music with their CI... so...
I attended a 'day' organised by OPCI. This is the 'Independent Platform CI' in The Netherlands, for various organisations working together to inform those of us with a CI, without speaking for any one group in particular.
They advertised an afternoon of workshops designed to inform and instruct on how best to enjoy music on your CI so that seemed like just something I really shouldn't miss. I wasn't wrong, it was a fun and informative afternoon, a wee bit on the silly side with the usual embarrassment thrown in, but all in all, well organised and nicely done.
It was a good two hours travel for me to get there and meant an early start but that's ok now and then, 'heb ik voor over'. HAH! I missed my planned train by the proverbial hair (don't ask). This meant a quick rethink of the best way to get there...hmmmm... not my forte, but I got the following train which meant a changeover, then oh, right, another change over. Sorted! This got me half way and only going to be ten minutes late woohoo, how cool am I? But that was then snookered by 'works on the line' and having to get a bus. Ok, I can do that... but that waited ages, then took ages, then I still had to get another train. Nothing ventured eh? I f inally arrive at my destination (according to the route given by the organisers!) and 'we're right opposite the station, 2 minutes walk'. Aye right! Not when your name is Mackie it ain't. Turns out Ede has another station, Ede-Wageningen... and although still not entirely obvious (!!!) I found the place after a not unpleasant walk to this next station. Four hours, door to door... I could have been in Scotland by then!
I'd missed the morning's proceedings, but lunch and all the workshops were still to come.
What I really like about going to things dedicated to us HoH folks is that you just cannot miss what is being said to you, what with typing interpreters and always a properly working audio loop. Signers too when more deaf folks are involved, love it! So anyway...
After lunch, and meeting up once more with quite a few familiar faces, and chatting to not a few new ones. It's so cool, all in the same boat eh? So you don't feel you have to explain why you didn't quite hear what was just said hahaha. The 150 or so attendees were split into four groups, one for each workshop, each lasting about half an hour.
Wee pauses to chat between each one, before moving into the next room of wonders, during which I was severally asked as to what I had on my head... 'is that a BAHA?' (Bone Achored Hearing Aid). Once again, no-one recognised my Rondo as a CI! Not even other Med-El CI wearers. I told the girl at the Med-El stand that they really do need to advertise it more because everyone is surprised by, and I'm sure, jealous of, the 'all-in-one -nothing-behind-the-ear' affair that is the Rondo! Even the stand they had, and the information booklets... all very vague about the Rondo... sort of 'mentioned in the passing'. I just don't get it!
There are folks of all ages at this sort of thing, male and female, and I met a lovely wee boy with perfect speech, eight years old 'but I've had my CI for seven years'. Amazing. It is definitely also more and more prevalent to see double-sided CI wearers... and I also actually met a very nice baha wearer - those are weird, with like a popper on your head to clip it on to hehe - not that the implant lump on my now magnetised skull isn't weird to some folks.
Our first workshop was singing. Hysterical. La-la la-la la-la la-la laaaaaa! As you do. But we actually did not bad, ending up with some 'playing' recorders and the rest of us singing a rondelay to accompany a wee dance. Won't be selling any records soon (or dancing in public for that matter) but it was fun, if kinda embarrassing hahaha.
We moved on to playing percussion instruments. What a racket! We learned to follow the 'music' from the page, missing beats and doubling up the beats... '4, 3, 2, 2, 5... and repeat!' An enormous cacophony of drums (me!) triangles, (cow) bells, tambourines and all sorts of maracas and 'if you can bang it, it's fine'... totally hysterical.
Next up was 'listening'. This was actually quite the eye-opener. We were shown how Beethoven's 5th 'sounded' with the use of this thing (click 'this'). I can't find the actual one we listened to but you get the picture I'm sure. By the 3rd time of watching this through, over the half hour, I could actually hear much more of it because the blocks show you that something (whichever instrument) is playing and suddenly they kick in, so next time you notice it more and the time after that you hear it better... and so on. Now this would take quite some effort on my part to achieve a good level of enjoying whichever music I want to hear better, and I'd of course need this programme with the blocks to help. So I'm not sure if I will actually make that effort - nor if it would even be possible - but it was great to find out that there is definitely a layer of improvement that can be achieved if you go the whole hog. The person giving the workshop is a music/piano teacher wearing a CI so, pretty inspiring really.
Last but not least, we were given a wee singing recital by a guy and his wife. He wears a CI and plays guitar, she did the singing. He told us (all up on screen so easily followed) about the hows and whys of his deafness, how he still had lots of trouble but manages better now... all the usual... and we got four wee songs accompanied to his guitar playing (we were not to be afflicted by his singing we were told). One by Clapton (Tears in Heaven, so ok, I heard the title), three in Dutch. Two of those I caught the odd word (no text on screen) but the third was 'subtitled' and was really lovely, I liked that a lot. Bram Vermeulen 'heb een steen verlegd'. The other two perhaps had equally nice words but I of course missed them. Still, was nice. The point of it all being, despite setbacks, this CI wearer was still enjoying music to the full. He'd had things adjusted in his CI (one side) and HA (the other) to enable him to choose a 'music programme', for when he is listening, or playing, music. So it can be done!
We all finished up in the auditorium to hear the thanks and see the flowers handed out as per, and we were able to listen to the pianist playing rather nicely before being treated to a percussion concert on drums and bongos... infinitely better than our effort but then, we only had half an hour eh?
Everyone then 'took their leave'. Me to a reasonable two hour run home, 'moe maar voldaan', marginally wiser about 'music and the CI' but in any case glad to have been there. Thanks to all at OPCI for the very well organised affair.
Short story long... I do rather miss the sounds I liked to listen to, even via my hearing aids... before. I know I missed loads even then but now, with the CI, I'm not only missing things, what I do hear is (can be) distorted. And yet you read of folks that really enjoy music with their CI... so...
I attended a 'day' organised by OPCI. This is the 'Independent Platform CI' in The Netherlands, for various organisations working together to inform those of us with a CI, without speaking for any one group in particular.
They advertised an afternoon of workshops designed to inform and instruct on how best to enjoy music on your CI so that seemed like just something I really shouldn't miss. I wasn't wrong, it was a fun and informative afternoon, a wee bit on the silly side with the usual embarrassment thrown in, but all in all, well organised and nicely done.
It was a good two hours travel for me to get there and meant an early start but that's ok now and then, 'heb ik voor over'. HAH! I missed my planned train by the proverbial hair (don't ask). This meant a quick rethink of the best way to get there...hmmmm... not my forte, but I got the following train which meant a changeover, then oh, right, another change over. Sorted! This got me half way and only going to be ten minutes late woohoo, how cool am I? But that was then snookered by 'works on the line' and having to get a bus. Ok, I can do that... but that waited ages, then took ages, then I still had to get another train. Nothing ventured eh? I f inally arrive at my destination (according to the route given by the organisers!) and 'we're right opposite the station, 2 minutes walk'. Aye right! Not when your name is Mackie it ain't. Turns out Ede has another station, Ede-Wageningen... and although still not entirely obvious (!!!) I found the place after a not unpleasant walk to this next station. Four hours, door to door... I could have been in Scotland by then!
I'd missed the morning's proceedings, but lunch and all the workshops were still to come.
What I really like about going to things dedicated to us HoH folks is that you just cannot miss what is being said to you, what with typing interpreters and always a properly working audio loop. Signers too when more deaf folks are involved, love it! So anyway...
After lunch, and meeting up once more with quite a few familiar faces, and chatting to not a few new ones. It's so cool, all in the same boat eh? So you don't feel you have to explain why you didn't quite hear what was just said hahaha. The 150 or so attendees were split into four groups, one for each workshop, each lasting about half an hour.
Wee pauses to chat between each one, before moving into the next room of wonders, during which I was severally asked as to what I had on my head... 'is that a BAHA?' (Bone Achored Hearing Aid). Once again, no-one recognised my Rondo as a CI! Not even other Med-El CI wearers. I told the girl at the Med-El stand that they really do need to advertise it more because everyone is surprised by, and I'm sure, jealous of, the 'all-in-one -nothing-behind-the-ear' affair that is the Rondo! Even the stand they had, and the information booklets... all very vague about the Rondo... sort of 'mentioned in the passing'. I just don't get it!
There are folks of all ages at this sort of thing, male and female, and I met a lovely wee boy with perfect speech, eight years old 'but I've had my CI for seven years'. Amazing. It is definitely also more and more prevalent to see double-sided CI wearers... and I also actually met a very nice baha wearer - those are weird, with like a popper on your head to clip it on to hehe - not that the implant lump on my now magnetised skull isn't weird to some folks.
Our first workshop was singing. Hysterical. La-la la-la la-la la-la laaaaaa! As you do. But we actually did not bad, ending up with some 'playing' recorders and the rest of us singing a rondelay to accompany a wee dance. Won't be selling any records soon (or dancing in public for that matter) but it was fun, if kinda embarrassing hahaha.
We moved on to playing percussion instruments. What a racket! We learned to follow the 'music' from the page, missing beats and doubling up the beats... '4, 3, 2, 2, 5... and repeat!' An enormous cacophony of drums (me!) triangles, (cow) bells, tambourines and all sorts of maracas and 'if you can bang it, it's fine'... totally hysterical.
Next up was 'listening'. This was actually quite the eye-opener. We were shown how Beethoven's 5th 'sounded' with the use of this thing (click 'this'). I can't find the actual one we listened to but you get the picture I'm sure. By the 3rd time of watching this through, over the half hour, I could actually hear much more of it because the blocks show you that something (whichever instrument) is playing and suddenly they kick in, so next time you notice it more and the time after that you hear it better... and so on. Now this would take quite some effort on my part to achieve a good level of enjoying whichever music I want to hear better, and I'd of course need this programme with the blocks to help. So I'm not sure if I will actually make that effort - nor if it would even be possible - but it was great to find out that there is definitely a layer of improvement that can be achieved if you go the whole hog. The person giving the workshop is a music/piano teacher wearing a CI so, pretty inspiring really.
Last but not least, we were given a wee singing recital by a guy and his wife. He wears a CI and plays guitar, she did the singing. He told us (all up on screen so easily followed) about the hows and whys of his deafness, how he still had lots of trouble but manages better now... all the usual... and we got four wee songs accompanied to his guitar playing (we were not to be afflicted by his singing we were told). One by Clapton (Tears in Heaven, so ok, I heard the title), three in Dutch. Two of those I caught the odd word (no text on screen) but the third was 'subtitled' and was really lovely, I liked that a lot. Bram Vermeulen 'heb een steen verlegd'. The other two perhaps had equally nice words but I of course missed them. Still, was nice. The point of it all being, despite setbacks, this CI wearer was still enjoying music to the full. He'd had things adjusted in his CI (one side) and HA (the other) to enable him to choose a 'music programme', for when he is listening, or playing, music. So it can be done!
We all finished up in the auditorium to hear the thanks and see the flowers handed out as per, and we were able to listen to the pianist playing rather nicely before being treated to a percussion concert on drums and bongos... infinitely better than our effort but then, we only had half an hour eh?
Everyone then 'took their leave'. Me to a reasonable two hour run home, 'moe maar voldaan', marginally wiser about 'music and the CI' but in any case glad to have been there. Thanks to all at OPCI for the very well organised affair.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
A year to the day since SOday... so fast!
How's it possible eh? Already a full year since implanted and now today, one year ago, I was 'switched on'.
I've been for my annual check of the CI (necessary for insurance purposes but otherwise handy anyway) and all is well.
The check included a good long session with tests from the speech therapist which proved that I do not after all have to start 'practicing listening' again. We (me and immediate family) did think it might be necessary as I do seem to keep missing things and am not so obviously hearing it all as I seemed to right at the start. The therapist tells me that I'm picking up more or less the same results with my CI, so it's not at all down to 'not listening properly' (or not deciphering things sufficiently) with the CI but could be partly down to hearing less with the remaining hearing aid. So, doing exercises to improve my listening skills would not really be helpful. She explained it with the huge difference from 'before' to 'after' being more noticeable right at the start... maybe?... and that I've settled into it more now. Also, your average person doesn't hear everything anyway! it's just perhaps more noticeable when I say 'what did you say?' because everyone expects me not to miss things now I have the CI. But I was 98% listening with the CI last time, and 98% this time too, so... bugger the lot of you... talk clearer for this CI wearer!
What may or may not help would be to have my hearing aid adjusted but I suspect that is no longer an option as it is actually overdue for being replaced and probably old-fashioned by now. They do tend to have come on in leaps and bounds every time I've needed new ones... so I'm curious to know what they have on offer now. I will only need one of course. I don't know if there is even an improved version available but I am being scheduled in for a new audiologist appointment soon so... we''ll see. I was hoping to manage with this HA for at least another year, not least as I have two (so a spare one). But I may need to just bite the bullet ... assuming they can recommend one for me that will work better. I'll meanwhile hope for a bit of adjustment to tide me over for a while yet. I'm mostly covered by insurance for new aids but still, could do without any expense thanks.
And too... it always takes me months of to-ing and fro-ing, and trying and testing, to get the things set to my liking, and of actual use to me. Really hate the process as it's kind of disheartening although of course you eventually get there. What's the betting they suggest X brand as 'best for your hearing according to the results' that I doggedly try... again... and totally fail to hear comfortably with... again, then resort to my tried and trusted make... again! We'll see.
Anyway, my test results were really good on the CI, and the check-up by the surgeon who poked around in both ears and checked my implant bump in all of 3 minutes was nice too. Nice bloke, hadn't met him before, I had him in kinks at the story of the HA battery being held on with the processor on top and he regaled me with one about someone going around with the spring from a pen hanging from their head all day. You have to laugh.
I'm not a babe magnet, just a plain old magnet!
My daughter's partner sent me a link for a book review that was about hearing, looked interesting (on the wish list now, thanks). I was really struck upon reading the following...
>>>
A healthy cochlea can distinguish thousands of tones, but modern cochlear implants have just twenty-two channels. What’s astounding is that these devices, which reduce the complexity and plurality of our acoustic world to just twenty-two stimuli, are so successful in making speech comprehension possible.
<<<
It's not just astounding, it's feckin' miraculous! Stupendous! Incredible and all things superlative! You guys that hear normally, you have 1000's... thou.sands! of 'channels'. I have 22... twenty.two!! So excuse me if I don't hear everything at all times!
Without my HA or my CI in... I'm effectively Deaf. With the one HA alone... this old one at least, as good as deaf to be fair. With my 22 channel CI... well, the 98% goes for 'optimum listening conditions and articulated speech' but still...pretty damned good, and the additional HA does help marginally more too.
So... watch this space for news on the right ear. A 2nd CI is not on the cards at all but have to say... I'd probably go for it if it was.
I've been for my annual check of the CI (necessary for insurance purposes but otherwise handy anyway) and all is well.
The check included a good long session with tests from the speech therapist which proved that I do not after all have to start 'practicing listening' again. We (me and immediate family) did think it might be necessary as I do seem to keep missing things and am not so obviously hearing it all as I seemed to right at the start. The therapist tells me that I'm picking up more or less the same results with my CI, so it's not at all down to 'not listening properly' (or not deciphering things sufficiently) with the CI but could be partly down to hearing less with the remaining hearing aid. So, doing exercises to improve my listening skills would not really be helpful. She explained it with the huge difference from 'before' to 'after' being more noticeable right at the start... maybe?... and that I've settled into it more now. Also, your average person doesn't hear everything anyway! it's just perhaps more noticeable when I say 'what did you say?' because everyone expects me not to miss things now I have the CI. But I was 98% listening with the CI last time, and 98% this time too, so... bugger the lot of you... talk clearer for this CI wearer!
What may or may not help would be to have my hearing aid adjusted but I suspect that is no longer an option as it is actually overdue for being replaced and probably old-fashioned by now. They do tend to have come on in leaps and bounds every time I've needed new ones... so I'm curious to know what they have on offer now. I will only need one of course. I don't know if there is even an improved version available but I am being scheduled in for a new audiologist appointment soon so... we''ll see. I was hoping to manage with this HA for at least another year, not least as I have two (so a spare one). But I may need to just bite the bullet ... assuming they can recommend one for me that will work better. I'll meanwhile hope for a bit of adjustment to tide me over for a while yet. I'm mostly covered by insurance for new aids but still, could do without any expense thanks.
And too... it always takes me months of to-ing and fro-ing, and trying and testing, to get the things set to my liking, and of actual use to me. Really hate the process as it's kind of disheartening although of course you eventually get there. What's the betting they suggest X brand as 'best for your hearing according to the results' that I doggedly try... again... and totally fail to hear comfortably with... again, then resort to my tried and trusted make... again! We'll see.
Anyway, my test results were really good on the CI, and the check-up by the surgeon who poked around in both ears and checked my implant bump in all of 3 minutes was nice too. Nice bloke, hadn't met him before, I had him in kinks at the story of the HA battery being held on with the processor on top and he regaled me with one about someone going around with the spring from a pen hanging from their head all day. You have to laugh.
I'm not a babe magnet, just a plain old magnet!
My daughter's partner sent me a link for a book review that was about hearing, looked interesting (on the wish list now, thanks). I was really struck upon reading the following...
>>>
A healthy cochlea can distinguish thousands of tones, but modern cochlear implants have just twenty-two channels. What’s astounding is that these devices, which reduce the complexity and plurality of our acoustic world to just twenty-two stimuli, are so successful in making speech comprehension possible.
<<<
It's not just astounding, it's feckin' miraculous! Stupendous! Incredible and all things superlative! You guys that hear normally, you have 1000's... thou.sands! of 'channels'. I have 22... twenty.two!! So excuse me if I don't hear everything at all times!
Without my HA or my CI in... I'm effectively Deaf. With the one HA alone... this old one at least, as good as deaf to be fair. With my 22 channel CI... well, the 98% goes for 'optimum listening conditions and articulated speech' but still...pretty damned good, and the additional HA does help marginally more too.
So... watch this space for news on the right ear. A 2nd CI is not on the cards at all but have to say... I'd probably go for it if it was.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)