she's doing the best she can.

I went to a concert last night. One of my favorite things to do used to be to go to shows, and see live bands play. Punk music, hardcore music, rock music, acoustic music, hell even stupid cheesey rock bands. I like live music, with a beer in hand, and hanging out with friends. This for some reason baffles people. The deaf girl likes live music? How can she even hear it? Does she know what is going on?

I get it, sure. The funny thing is that I hear music better unaided. I use Phonak Naida III SPs (they're PINK!), and they sadly, block out most of the good part of the music. Thankfully rock bands know to turn the music up loud ;) Anyway, the dual microphone is a pain. One microphone works to pick up voices, and the other will work to block out noise behind me. I've said before that my right ear is useless, and I basically use it to keep my balance, and for background noise. I wasn't kidding! I'm a clutz, and I can safely blame my hearing on it. I'm the one who misjudges the door jamb, or stubs her toe on the same part of the bathroom molding.

One thing that is extremely frustrating is trying to communicate with a friend in a big crowd of people. I'm known to text, because honestly, I can't hear a damned thing. If you're ever trying to communicate with a person with hearing loss, please for the love of God, mouth your words. I can lip read very, very well. This is why I had trouble taking orders at my first job, because I feel like 70% of what I hear is filtered through what I see on the person's lips. Any person who is hard of hearing will tell you this, I need to see your lips/mouth. It seems counterintuitive to speak in front of me, instead of into my ear...but 98% of people forget which ear is worse (the right one), which isn't their fault. Or you can just enjoy the show and wait until after to converse.

Anyway, live music is awesome. My coworker today asked me what I do with my aids while I'm at a concert. Normally, I just leave them in. Unless it's raining, or I'm the crowd getting sweaty (very unlikely), I will leave them in in case my friends want to talk to me. I went to an outdoor concert on Randall's Island in NYC a few years back with an exboyfriend, and I couldn't wear my aids all day, until WuTang Clan played. Damned right I put those suckers in! Anyway, my point is that I was standing in the rain, in a crowd of 33,000 people, and I was utterly lost. Completely confused. I couldn't hear anything, and all I could smell was pot, cigarettes, and those awesome fried dough things they make. I was completely disoriented. Next time I go to a music festival (Coachella 2013, PLEASE), I will definitely bring something that I can cover them up with.

ps: If anyone has a spare Coachella ticket, and wants to fly me out there...I wouldn't turn it down ;)