Losing my Sense of Hearing

I have been sick these past few days, remnants of the nasty cold, cough, and fever.  What I have been keeping from everyone is that I have lost almost 70% of my hearing.  I took the flight back to Manila from Cebu last Friday and the pressure plus congestion up my nose caused me to hear less.  I don’t have the colds anymore, I feel better.  Been lethargic though, from the tons of meds I’ve been taking.  But I am very concerned about my hearing.  I ran a training this past Monday to Wednesday, and I strained to understand the muffled voices of my participants.  I miss the sound of my footsteps and the slushing of water from the faucet which I cannot totally hear.  I am still scheduled to go to the EENT doctor on Saturday.  Till then, I have to bear the agony of waiting…and facing the possibility that I might forever be hearing impaired.  For someone like me who loves music and with a career that relies heavily on what people have to say, it is scary.  So, armed with a new-found respect to the differently abled, I did the following:

Got a haircut!  Nice, di ba?  If I will be deaf, I should still rock, man!

 

Cooked my version of Chicken Parmegiana.  

Ingredients:

1/2 k  chicken breast fillet sliced into wedges, minced garlic and onion, 2 cups tomatoes, salt and pepper, dash of oregano, 3 tbsps. capers, 2 cups diced eggplants, 2 cups water, 1 red bell pepper diced

Instructions:

Saute garlic, onion, and tomatoes in olive oil.  Stir in chicken.  Season with salt, pepper, oregano.  Stir in capers, diced eggplant and red bell pepper.  Saute for another 3-5 minutes to let flavors infuse.  Add water and simmer for another 3-5 minutes.

Had the most awesome dinner.  Treat to the palate.

Chika with my sister, Shobe, while preparing dinner.  Talked about her experience of letting her boyfriend, Chris, go back to the States after the latter’s 6-week stay in the Philippines.  Oh, did I mention that his visit was the first time my sister and Chris saw each other?  Yes, blogfriends.  After a 3-month long-distance getting-to-know churvalens, Shobe got to see him in the flesh!  And the love story, my dearests.  Ugh.  Tissue please!  Gonna save that for another entry.  The chika centered more on the send-off which happened earlier today.  Boyfriend’s flight was at 6:00 p.m. so the usual hatid sa airport.  The only question was:

Me:  So, did you kiss at the airport just like in the movies?

Shobe:  Bakla syempre!  Record-breaking French kiss.  Queber sa lolang naiskandalo at sa mga ka-pamilya at public, matagal-tagal ko sya hindi makikita noh.

(me and Sis shriek like teenage girls)

Me:  Was he a good kisser?

Shobe: (slyly smiles)

(Me and Shobe shriek more like a bunch of teenage girls in an N’Sync concert back in the days when Lance Bass was still in the closet)

 

Made a mean salsa dip from scratch for our Nacho binge later while watching BONES on crime/suspense. 

Simple:  throw 3 big tomatoes, half of a white onion, parsley, 4 tbsps vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar, salt and pepper, and a dash of cumin into your blender and pulse away!  Yummmm!

and of course, I f#$%ng smoked away….

Don’t you just love the fact how losing something as precious as your sense of hearing can bring profundity and clarity to one’s self?  (wryly smiles)