Day: May 13, 2023

Can You Hear Me Now?

Fandango17 Comments

Do you remember the old TV commercials from Verizon Wireless where they had this guy roaming around town with a mobile cellphone next to his ear and asking, “Can you hear me now?”

I had my own “can you hear me now” experience when I went to see the audiologist yesterday afternoon because, after 13 months, my hearing aids started misbehaving. Either that or my ears suddenly got a lot worse or something was wrong with my brain.

The first thing the audiologist did was to give me a hearing test. The good news is that my hearing hasn’t gotten any worse since last year. The bad news is that the hearing loss in my right ear is still moderate to severe. In my left ear, it’s still severe to profound!

But it also means that it was the hearing aids, not my ears or brain, that were failing. The audiologist played around with the hearing aids for a while, replaced some parts, made some program changes, and loaded an updated app onto my iPhone. She paired my hearing aids with the app, told me to put them in my ear and then started the “can you hear me now?” game.

She started talking to me and asked me how it sounded. I told her I could barely hear her, that she was speaking too softly. She made some adjustments and started talking again, but this time her voice was reverberating inside my head.

After some more adjustments, I could hear her better, but I told her her voice seemed really high. I didn’t have the heart to tell her she sounded like Minnie Mouse. More adjustments. By this time I was really tired and said, “Yeah, that sounds better.” I lied.

She said to keep wearing the hearing aids for a couple of weeks and if I wasn’t happy, to come back and they’d see what else they could do.

Last night after dinner, my wife wanted to watch “Grey’s Anatomy” on TV. There’s a lot of talking on “Grey’s Anatomy” and most of it is done by females. I noticed that I could understand the dialogue from male characters, but the voices of the female characters sounded like they were being spoken by Alvin’s chipmunks. I could barely understand what they were saying.

I don’t think I can wait another two weeks. I think I’ll call on Monday and see if I can get another appointment this coming week. These hearing aids were working great for 13 months. They need to fix ‘‘em or replace ‘em.

WDP — Public Figure

Fandango19 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What public figure do you disagree with the most?
View all responses

The WordPress daily writing prompt today asks what public figure I disagree with the most. I’m responding to this prompt by also responding to Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the prompt word is “absolute” and we have 80 words at our disposal. My response to Sami’s prompt is the answer to the WordPress prompt, as well,

Weekend Writing Prompt — Absolute Evil

“I am so scared that that egomaniacal, misogynistic, racist, antisemitic, white nationalist, dictator wannabe will win the Republican nomination and, ultimately, be re-elected President in 2024,” Sandy said.

“I am in absolute agreement,” Larry said. “Our American democracy is under a threat it hasn’t faced since the Civil War, yet these GOP lawmakers are behaving as if they have no knowledge of the history of our country or the world. How anyone can’t see what could happen is beyond me.”

(Exactly 80 words)

SoCS — Diet and Exercise

Fandango4 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has instructed us to find a word that starts with “over” and use it for our posts. I may have been a little overeager and gone somewhat overboard in my response, but here goes.

“I know that you are overtly antagonistic towards me because I’m overweight,” Mitch said.

“Oh come on, buddy, I think you’re being overly sensitive,” John said. “I do think you have a tendency to overeat upon occasion, but overall, I think you’re overrating my concerns. I do think, Mitch, now that you’ve reached the big five-oh, you may be overdue on getting into a sound regimen of diet and exercise, but you don’t need to overdo it. Start out slowly, but be consistent, and before long, you’ll overcome your reluctance.”

Mitch frowned. “You’re always overreacting to me. This regimen of diet and exercise you’re proposing is overkill. I’m barely ten pounds over my ideal weight for my height. I can practically lose those extra pounds overnight. You act as if I’m on death’s doorstep.”

“I don’t want to put you on the defensive, Mitch, but I value our friendship, and for guys our age, shedding ten pounds is not something you can do overnight,” John said. “Listen, I have a personal trainer and I bet I can get him to work with you and to oversee your progress. I’m serious man, I don’t want to lose you, buddy.”

“Damn you, John, you can be so overbearing at times,” Mitch said. “I feel like I’m overdosing on your concern about my health and welfare, so, fine, just so you don’t get too overwrought, give me your trainer’s number and I’ll talk it over with him.”

“That’s great, Mitch,” John said. “I overwhelmingly approve and I’ll text you my guy’s number. Seriously, Mitch, I’m overjoyed.”

FOWC with Fandango — Tsunami

Fandango16 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “tsunami.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.