33...

33.  And I almost forgot to put on Thirty-three by the Smashing Pumpkins.  Something I always said I would do when I turned 33.  So with a half hour left in my birthday, I thought I'd write a bit.  There's not a ton to report.  The weekend was fun and filled with friends and drinking.  My party Sunday ended up being small but still fun.  And today, I had a free yoga class at my old studio and got to catch up with a teacher I hadn't taken class from in a while. 

I also had a doctor's appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat doc to see what was happening with my right ear.  What is happening with my right ear?  Okay, so a few weeks ago, I had a cold so bad I wound up with an ear infection in my right ear and, while the pain subsided the following day, sometime the next week when I was back in Brooklyn, I noticed something odd.  While playing my guitar, single notes were resonating as two notes out of tune with each other.  I thought something was wrong with my guitar and wrote it off, saying I'd check into it later.  The next day though, I heard the same phenomenon with music that was playing in my kitchen.  I was hearing an echo off one of the walls, reaching my ear a millisecond later and coming in out of tune with the left ear.  I was standing there plugging and un plugging my left ear and listening to the music jump up in pitch every time.  It was so weird. 

I researched it and found that it's an actual thing you can get if you either have damage to the sensory nerves or if you have fluid or ear wax buildup in the inner ear.  It's called, wait for it, "Diplacusis." The wiki article doesn't give you much but there's more info out there.  Anyway, I just assumed it would resolve itself, seeing as how it was probably related to the ear infection and not any damage, but it was taking a while, so I scheduled the doctor's appointment just to be safe.  I would have gotten there on Friday last week but I showed up without an insurance card on me and had to reschedule for today...by which point, it had fully cleared up.  I've been recommended to someone for a full hearing test though and I'm going to go because I need to be sure it's gone.  I have tested it tonight and it seems fine and at the doctor's office, she held a tuning fork up to both ears alternately and I heard the same pitch in both ears.  So, it seems it's cleared up.  I had to test it here as well because I was finding, when it was at its worst, that the softer the sound the more evident the difference in pitch was.  You should've seen me plugging one ear and listening to my guitar as I plucked the open strings first softer and then gradually louder and louder.  The pitch would resolve back to where it was supposed to be as it got louder.  It was the weirdest thing ever. 

And of course, only a musician would notice it.  Or anyone with any musical sensibility.  So, naturally, I was disturbed that part of my instrument (as a composer) was malfunctioning.  And in the most ridiculous possible way...like why a half step difference?  That's pretty dissonant. Another interval, like maybe a fourth or something would've been fun maybe but weird dissonance was not cool.  I admit I panicked for a hot second. 

But anyhow, that's all cleared up now and I'm feeling loads better minus the lingering dry cough that you can get with a head and chest cold.  And the weather here is ever improving so there's that. 

And I'm gearing up for a great summer, with loads of fun plans coming up including things like a trip to NC to see my nephew on his birthday in July, a trip upstate at some point, and a Tori Amos concert, one of my favorite artists of all time, whom I've never seen perform live.  I think I'm going to be working a lot during the summer months as well, covering someone's maternity leave at CNN.  So I'm hoping I won't go insane.  And things are happening with both voice over and music.  I'll be putting together that promo demo as soon as I get the audio from the last two jobs, and I'm still finishing the score for "The Life" which is getting ever closer to completion. I may even have another job soon but, as always, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. 

For now, I need to sleep off this weekend and get in the mindset for productivity again.  Good night!