I've been working at my current temp job for over a month now. My boss had said long ago that I could bring in an iPod or something of that sort to work so I don't die of boredom. (I'm doing some really tedious work organizing a room full of personnel files, but hey, they're paying me a real wage, so I can't complain). I tend to feel kind down when left to my tedious file sorting, but since I started listening to music while I work I feel a lot better. I guess music therapy really does work. In fact, I have a friend graduating with her degree in music therapy tomorrow.
Anyway, it took me a while to figure out how to go about finding some sort of music player to bring in. My new hearing devices are cool since I can’t stand headphones. They’re either big and bulky and irritate the back of my ear, or they’re tiny and irritate the inside of my ear. Either way, I have to trade my hearing aid for them and vice versa if someone wants to talk to me. That’s why the iCom and Phonak Versata are so cool. Unfortunately, I don't own an iPod, and my walkman cd player is a bit unwieldy and would take up too much space on the already-cluttered desk. My only other choice was a cheap mp3 player that holds about 30 songs on it. So I ended up using my mp3 player and I'm just about to the point where I'm getting sick of the songs that are on there. They're all good songs, of course. In fact, sometimes I try to quietly sing along, because if I sing too loud I'm likely to be thought of as the crazy girl working in the file room. My cousin read my facebook status and said,
“Sing and dance girl! Who cares if you look crazy. At least you are enjoying yourself. If it makes people around you smile then your listening to music has made their day better too” to which I replied
“ Even if Good Day Sunshine is a happy song, I doubt my singing is going to make anyone’s day better.”
Oh well. The music helps the day of tedious work go by faster at any rate. My boyfriend also said he might give me his old iPod shuffle and buy himself a new one. It sure would be an improvement on what I’ve got, but even with my little digital mp3 player I still feel like the “cool kid.” When I’m in my file room I’m off in my own little world. Remember that cool hearing aid I got a couple months ago? It’s pretty awesome. Even though I haven’t gotten anything except my cell phone to connect with my iCom device wirelessly via Bluetooth, I can plug the device into any headphone jack for audio output and listen directly through my hearing aid, no bothersome headphones necessary!
Even though I’m pretty isolated most of the time, every once in a while someone will come in and ask me something. They don’t know right away that I’m listening to something. I usually have the device around my neck and the wire connected to the mp3 player in my pocket, but I may or may not be listening to music. No one else can tell because I’m not wearing headphones or anything. Someone starts talking to me and I’ll tell them to hold on a second. Seeing me press the button, they’ll start talking again, and I’ll have to tell them to wait just one more second. Because the iCom and mp3 player are connected to my hearing aid it takes another second for the hearing aid to recognize that there’s no sound coming from the device and reconnect me with the real world. When I explained how it worked to my boss she thought it was so cool that she had to bring me over to our co-worker’s office so I could show her, too. Everyone I explain the devices to is pretty impressed, and here I thought I was lame because I don’t have an iPod… I guess my gadgets are pretty cool after all.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Some Exciting Updates!
I've been pretty busy with work and work related issues. I haven't posted anything at all since I started a temp job at the beginning of April, but I have good reason to get back into blogging mode... Today I received an e-mail from Nancy Macklin, Director of Events and Marketing for HLAA, and she offered to make me the OFFICIAL BLOGGER for the Hearing Loss Association of America's national convention in Milwaukee next month! Also, I haven't blogged in so long, I never announced that I'd won a scholarship to the convention! I and 5 other young adults each received a complimentary convention package as well as $500 for travel and accommodations. This was in addition to the two Rocky Stone scholarships for this year's convention.
If anyone has never gone to an HLAA convention and is interested in going next year, be sure to apply for a scholarship at the beginning of the year (applications are typically due by the end of March). The scholarships are only for first-timers and HLAA is always trying to encourage more young adults to attend!
I attended a leadership training for the Southern California division of HLAA in March which was fun. A lot of it was for leaders of established HLAA chapters,
but it was informative nonetheless.
Let's see, what else? My hearing aid is working fairly well now. Turns out the beeping noise I thought was some sort of "interference" was just the low battery warning.
My old aid supposedly had that but I never heard it. It just sort of gradually went out. The volume control is awesome. I didn't have that one on my old one. The t-coil for landline phones is a lot better than the one for my old one. I wish I could tell if it works well in looped rooms, but I never come across any. With all this HLAA talk maybe I should actually attend a meeting to try it out. They always have the room looped.
Other than HLAA stuff, I also missed an opportunity to spread the word about the awesome new documentary "See What I'm Saying!" It's about 4 deaf performers and includes spoken words, ASL and captions! It's the first commercial film of its kind in that respect. It was really inspiring and I could especially relate to a lot of what
hard of hearing singer, TL Forsberg, had to say about being hard of hearing in a hearing world with a completely separate Deaf culture. I saw it with some friends in LA
on opening weekend and it was amazing. Seriously, if you're Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, hearing impaired, have fully functional hearing, I don't care what your status
is as someone with a hearing loss or not, go see it! Apparently with help from people like me and my friends spreading the word the film is doing really well and has been opened up for more screenings in LA and around the country! So go see it! Look for local showings and show your support for this amazing film. Tell all your friends. It really is an inspiring flick.
The only other new thing I can think of is the fact that I'm having some issues with a certain job position right now and I'm investigating to figure out if I might have an EEO (equal employment opportunity) or ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) case here, but first I'm going to try to rationally settle the dispute. It's rather personal and I'd rather not get everyone up in arms about equal rights if I can calmly come to a reasonable agreement with said employer. That said, I think I may have covered everything. I'll be sure to post again soon, so if I can think of any other updates I will be blogging about those in the near future.
If anyone has never gone to an HLAA convention and is interested in going next year, be sure to apply for a scholarship at the beginning of the year (applications are typically due by the end of March). The scholarships are only for first-timers and HLAA is always trying to encourage more young adults to attend!
I attended a leadership training for the Southern California division of HLAA in March which was fun. A lot of it was for leaders of established HLAA chapters,
but it was informative nonetheless.
Let's see, what else? My hearing aid is working fairly well now. Turns out the beeping noise I thought was some sort of "interference" was just the low battery warning.
My old aid supposedly had that but I never heard it. It just sort of gradually went out. The volume control is awesome. I didn't have that one on my old one. The t-coil for landline phones is a lot better than the one for my old one. I wish I could tell if it works well in looped rooms, but I never come across any. With all this HLAA talk maybe I should actually attend a meeting to try it out. They always have the room looped.
Other than HLAA stuff, I also missed an opportunity to spread the word about the awesome new documentary "See What I'm Saying!" It's about 4 deaf performers and includes spoken words, ASL and captions! It's the first commercial film of its kind in that respect. It was really inspiring and I could especially relate to a lot of what
hard of hearing singer, TL Forsberg, had to say about being hard of hearing in a hearing world with a completely separate Deaf culture. I saw it with some friends in LA
on opening weekend and it was amazing. Seriously, if you're Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, hearing impaired, have fully functional hearing, I don't care what your status
is as someone with a hearing loss or not, go see it! Apparently with help from people like me and my friends spreading the word the film is doing really well and has been opened up for more screenings in LA and around the country! So go see it! Look for local showings and show your support for this amazing film. Tell all your friends. It really is an inspiring flick.
The only other new thing I can think of is the fact that I'm having some issues with a certain job position right now and I'm investigating to figure out if I might have an EEO (equal employment opportunity) or ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) case here, but first I'm going to try to rationally settle the dispute. It's rather personal and I'd rather not get everyone up in arms about equal rights if I can calmly come to a reasonable agreement with said employer. That said, I think I may have covered everything. I'll be sure to post again soon, so if I can think of any other updates I will be blogging about those in the near future.
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