More updates from where the Blue Ridge yawns its greatness

First, the random stuff:

Fall break is October 14-18th...

I'm coming home to Charleston...the only place other than Clemson that owns a piece of my heart. I'm looking forward to seeing some people I haven't seen in awhile and to being able to relax and see my family.

This weekend is the PSA retreat to Camp Buc in the Upstate...should be a good time.

And finally, in other news, I hope to continue to keep you updated on the PSA Fighting Llama football team, of which I am a member. After a hardfought battle on Tuesday night, the Llamas found themselves down by two touchdowns in the final minutes of the final half. But, prevailing as all llamas must, we fought back. A decisive drive and TD catch brought us within a touchdown with nearly a minute remaining. We needed a turnover, and we got it in the form of an interception that gave us the ball on their twenty yard line. We were able to convert, and the llamas snatched a vict...I mean tie...from the jaws of defeat! Next week, Tuesday night, at 8:45, the Fighting Llamas of PSA will be bringin it! Be sure to stay posted for an update!

And now for the reason this blog was created in the first place:

It is getting so cool to walk on campus during class changes and actually HEAR snippets of conversations going on around me. Sometimes, in brief bursts of clarity, I'll hear what the girl next to me said to her friend on the phone, or I'll hear a joke being told by a passer-by to his group of friends.

I think my audio cable has been a big help in allowing me to begin understanding voices with my implant. I listen to music exclusively through my implant now, and as I listen, I can hear the words as they are sung. As I continue to use these headphones, my implant continually grows more and more used to understanding spoken sound.

It is also cool to be able to hear the TV without closed captioning. While I can't understand everything, I can be sitting on my couch with just my implant on (no hearing aid) and hear Scott Van Pelt on ESPN report that David Dunham just got the number one play of the week for his hit on BC's Quinton Porter, without even looking at the TV or the closed captioning! It's getting easier and easier to understand speech through mechanical devices, such as the radio or the TV!!

Speaking of mechanical devices, I have begun using my cell phone on my implant ear. I haven't used a phone through my left ear in over a decade, so it's quite a new experience. It is such an akward feeling to hold my phone in my left hand up to my left ear! Since I also have hearing in my right ear, I can switch ears at my leisure. The sound quality may be slightly different, but one I can adjust to fairly quickly! I remember I had to listen to a voice mail last Tuesday, and I decided to try it with my implant ear, just to see what it sounded like, and I was just absolutely ASTOUNDED that I heard every single bit of it on the first go-round. Usually on a voice mail, I have to hit number 4 to repeat the message several times to catch everything. Not so this time! Of course, it's easier to understand/recognize the voices of certain people (such as, of course, and thankfully, my mother) simply because I'm used to the sounds and inflections of their voices. Hopefully in time, my confidence in using the phone with random people I don't know will increase! Now that I feel certain I'll be able to use the phone with my implant ear, I feel able to justify getting a new cell phone, which for those of you who call me or have tried, you know I need! I should get a new one when I go home for fall break! Whoohoo!

The phone thing has given me so much confidence in my hearing. To be able to hear, with just my implant, without reading lips has been a benchmark of sorts for me in judging how well my implant hearing has progressed. To finally be able to hold conversations without asking for repitition is an amazing accomplishment. I feel certain things will only continue to improve!

I had quite a scare last week involving a serious head injury that left me with serious dizziness and major hearing loss in the right ear. Fortunately, and almost miraculously, things were better within a day or two and my dizziness completely disappeared and my hearing in my right ear returned. I'm also happy to tell you that the dizziness/loss of balance I have complained about since my operation has largely disappeared in the last week or two.

I have also made a decision today that could very well affect my life positively in many ways to come. When the time is appropriate, you can be sure I'll be posting more on that!

In short, life continues to be wonderful. I am continually thankful to God for giving me the ability to find the positives in the negatives. I am also thankful for my parents, my brother, my friends, this University, and everyone else who continually challenge me to find these positives, and to make the most of the life I have been given. With some of the stuff that has happened to me lately, it wouldn't be a stretch to say I should be going through some of the worst times of my life...but I'm not...quite the contrary, in fact...I can't say I've ever seen better days in life than the days I've been priviliged to spend in this place among these people.

I saw a verse on the wall the other day down at the PSA, in some obscure corner where few people go, much less look at the walls. It is absolutely amazing.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9

Simply awesome.

Random late-night musings from a studied out college student

So I just finished a bunch of studying, and I get to go to bed so I can get up and do it all over again ( I have a physics test on Wednesday).

Just thought I'd post a few thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head lately.

First, some positives:
It's pretty cool to not be looking at someone who is talking, yet still be able to hear every last word. Jim (the guy who lives in the room next to me) was in my room the other night and it was really dark and I couldn't see his face too well, but with the combination of my implant and hearing aid, we were able to carry on an entire conversation. This never would have happened before my implant. Also, in church, I was actually able to bow my head and close my eyes and hear the prayer! Pretty cool!

Death Valley, on Miami's final drive of the game last Saturday, owned the title of "loudest place on earth" without question. You had to be there to hear it and believe it. I'm just thankful I still have my hearing after a game like that (and especially after the instability of my hearing from last semester...seems like I lost my hearing in every loud situation I was in). I wore an ear plug in my right ear, and was still able to hear the band and crowd noise with my implant (not to mention, I could FEEL the crowd noise!). The game itself, while a loss for the Tigers, was unquestionably the greatest football game I've ever seen. Definitely an Instant Classic, and one in which all Tiger fans can be proud of their team for standing toe to toe with one of the better teams in the country. Triple overtime...the Tigers played like the champions they become when they rub that rock and run down the hill.

I have a personal audio cable that I can connect my implant to audio devices, such as a laptop computer, an Ipod, or a stereo. I am using it right now, as it is plugged into my computer and playing the Red Hot Chili Peppers "Greatest Hits". The clarity of the sound is actually very good, which goes to show that my implant is definitely continuing to improve in the area of speech understanding. While I already knew many of the words to these songs, I'm actually hearing some words for the first time without having to look up the lyrics! I'm also excited that I can use Ipods now! Before, I couldn't, because I couldn't really use headphones that well, but this audio cable just plugs right into the back of my implant.

And then there's some negatives...

My balance is still an issue. While day to day activities don't bother me, I work hard, but I like to play harder...when I play sports, I defnitely notice an issue with my balance. It's hard for me to run across the field and look over my shoulder for an oncoming frisbee or football without losing my balance or stumbling or generally feeling a bit of dizziness. It's getting to be quite frustrating, and I'm noticing certain things (like catching a football or frisbee) have become much harder for me when they were not that hard before. I hope this gets better.

The magnetic coil, which comes in different strengths, is not quite strong enough for sports. When I run or play basketball (or anything in which my head is moving rapidly), the magnet falls off. Usually when the magnet falls off, the whole device goes with it and it falls to the ground. Fortunately, to prevent the behind the ear part from falling, I have an ear mold that I wear with the implant to keep it attached to my ear...but the ear mold does not do anything about the magnet. I'm currently waiting for a stronger magnet, which should be useful for when I play sports. Right now, my only solution is to wear a hat, because this applies some pressure to the magnet and keeps it to my head. I'm probably going to switch to wearing headbands soon...so you can refer to me as the D-Balla or something like that from now on...because I'm going gangsta.

Sorry about that last thing, it's late and my jokes aren't funny at night.

That's about all for now. I dislike not being able to post regularly, but I don't get much time around here to do so, so I'll keep updating when I get the chance!

Oh yeah, I got to see my family again this past weekend, as well as two weeks ago for the A&M game. It's always great to see Mom and Dad and 'Brother John' (lol, Mom).

Maybe I'll put some pictures up for your enjoyment, sometime! Here's a teaser...

Go Tigers...Beat the Eagles!

Finally, some peace and quiet

I predicted the first few weeks of school were going to be very exciting and enjoyable following the summer of operations and recovery.

I was right. But I forgot to predict that those same weeks would wear me out!

I am so glad to be back in Clemson. I can't even begin to express the amount of joy I still get from just walking across campus at dusk, or looking out my window in the morning and seeing Death Valley, or even just sitting in the outdoor theater on a warm (but not too hot) day and watching the students walk by on their way to class.

It's been a busy past few weeks, getting back into the swing of things here on campus. We had the opening-week festivities, which included the Welcome Back festival on Bowman, Bands on Bowman, seeing old friends, and much more. The first week wasn't too bad, as we only had three days of class and then a nice weekend to enjoy jetskiing on the lake and such.

We finally got a full week of class in the following week, and I got to really test-drive my new implant in the classroom setting. My first impression has definitely been that it is a big improvement. Having the implant makes it so much easier to hear what teachers are saying without having to concentrate so much on what they are saying. This may not make much sense, but for a person with a hearing impairment, there is a difference between being able to listen without having to work too actually concentrate on listening, as opposed to being able to hear because you have to devote all your energy and concentration to actually hearing what's said.

In the past, I've definitely been a member of the latter group of people and it's really made classroom settings difficult. Rather than being able to take notes and listen at the same time, I have always only been able to do one or the other. When I take notes, I can't hear what the teacher's saying, but when I focus on what the teacher is saying, I can't really take notes. At the same time, sometimes it is so difficult to hear what is being said that I can't devote any energy or brain matter to actually trying to understand what is being said.

I have noticed this dilemma in social settings as well. Sometimes, I'll be talking to someone at an event (usually in a very loud setting) and I'll be genuinely interested in asking them a particular question...but then I have to focus/concentrate so much on actually hearing what they said that I completely forget to remember what they said. Then it makes me look slightly ignorant when they realize I've forgotten what they said soon after.

But things have changed a bit with the implant. I don't have to focus so much on hearing what's being said...so now I can devote a little more brain matter to understanding what's being said. I remember my first physics class where I realized I was taking notes but was able to understand some of what the professor was saying while I was looking at my notes.

In many of my classes, I even took of my implant for a brief few seconds, just to go back to the 'old way' of hearing that I was so used to. The difference in what I was able to understand with just one hearing aid, as opposed to both hearing aid and implant, was incredible. Having both makes a world of difference. Sometimes I'll just wear my implant to class and I'll practice

:: side note :: As I type this, Jad Dean has just kicked the game-winning field goal against Texas A&M. I've now seen "the kick" from the Clemson/TAMU game from last Saturday at least five times - once in real life, which was by far the best one, and four times on the replay they have shown on ESPN U. I have to say, it was a very exciting game to attend, especially for the first of the season. I was a bit worried about noise levels affecting my hearing in my non-implant ear (just as they did last semester), so I made the tough decision to wear an ear plug in my right ear to protect my hearing. I am happy to say it was a smart decision, as I left the game with my hearing intact. I also tried not to yell or make too much noise in an attempt to protect my hearing even further, but I woke up the next morning hoarse...which leads me to believe I must have yelled like crazy and not realized it after Jad put his sixth field goal through the uprights and won ne the game...oops! :)
:: end side note ::

I'll post a little later on what my actual classes are like and that sort of thing...I don't want to make this blog too long today. For now, I just wanted you to know that my implant is already making an impact for me class-wise.

If you can, be sure to check out the Tigers tomorrow at 12:00 on ESPN as they take on the Maryland Twerps...I mean, Terrapins. Should be a good game, not to mention another notch in our Win column, I hope!

Go Tigers!