laryngitis

Well folks, I am officially sick and dying...or rather, I have been for the last week, am currently on the other side (aka, perhaps no longer dying, just sick). I actually stayed home from school for 3 days...and I bought both dayquil and nyquil (the target versions of them anyway)...and I even went to the doctor. Crazy, I must be growing up or something (since I used to really frustrate a good friend of mine when I'd get sick and do nothing about it but take some vitamin c and take a nap or two...he thought I should go to the doctor, I thought I should just take it easy...he would go buy drugs at walgreens in an effort to make me take care of myself...I'm just not a drugs kind of person...and maybe I just never took taking care of myself very seriously either). So I totally lost my voice (hence staying home from school, hard to teach when you can't be heard) which is crazy. I haven't been this sick in years! and i've only ever had laryngitis one other time in my life - one other amazingly opportune time. In my junior year at TTU, I took a music theory and aural skills course and the aural skills part of it required a twice a week class on sight singing, note recognition, etc. The class was really good for me, really helped in learning what intonation is from an internal view, but I was definitely not a star in the class, despite having been in choir in 8th grade... ha ha : ). So the final for that class was to go sight sing some music in the professor's office - very scary, not only are you singing music you've never seen before acapela and alone, but you are being graded on your intonation and knowledge of what those notes on the paper are supposed to sound like. Well, the morning of that final, I woke up without a voice. I went to my appointment in the professor's office, and squeaked out that I had no voice, and she, being the coolest professor alive, replied "well, you're not a music major and you've been consistent in attendance and hard work in the class, so I'll just give you an A for the final." yep, without a note sung, yesssssss! greatest case of laryngitis EVER!

And that story makes me think of the hay bale incident...I don't know why, they are in no way related, but here's the story. Once I hit a hay bale head on, going 75 mph on I-40. For some reason I thought my car, a 91 honda accord which has approximately 3 inches of clearance, would go over the hay bale. and I had no idea hay bales were so solid. Wow, I am a superiorly intelligent human being...perhaps spatial awareness and common sense are not my strengths. Which brings up another story of ridiculousness known affectionately as the ankle-roof incident.

So one semester I went to Costa Rica to study abroad. I had an incredible time and experienced a fair amount of death defying moments...like losing my balance in a rushing river of wild thigh-high water, and being swept down that river a bit until I was able to grab a rock and hang on, meanwhile trying my best to keep my backpack from going under as we were in the midst of a 16 mile hike and getting all my stuff wet (including binoculars and a camera) would have been very, very sad...but despite these moments, I managed to not hurt myself beyond a bruise or scrape or two. Ok, so in the very last week of the semester, we'd just finished giving presentations of our research at a community symposium and so had a night off from studying and preparing and such. This boy that I was dating and I decided that we should look at some stars (because there were billions, ah, it was so beautiful) and to do that best, we should jump onto the roof of a classroom that was built into the ground, so as to get away from the station lights. Well, due to it being very, very dark and I did not take a flashlight with me, and I was a little freaked out about jumping over about 3 feet of a 15 ft. drop between the ground and the roof, I hesitated in jumping and only made it with one foot...the other foot kicked the edge of the roof. No big deal right, I didn't fall at least. Except for the minor detail of that roof being tin, and me jumping hard enough to dent the edge of the roof where I kicked it....probably with the ankle bone that hit it! Fortunately I went into shock in T-minus about 10 seconds, so it didn't hurt for several hours, and I in fact thought it was "merely a flesh wound", said with monty python emphasis. Well folks, it was not in fact merely a flesh wound as I managed to cut through 2 tendons, a nerve, and into my ankle bone... which required surgery and a 3 day stay in the hospital. Adventures in developing countries...yes indeed. And I was not drinking! (that's what everybody wants to know) - oh no, this was done in total sobriety...perhaps thinking things through is also not a strength...at least spontaneity is : )!

Ok, that is all for the ridiculous tales of my life...at least for now. I think it's nap time, as I really need to go back to work tomorrow!