What? Memorial Day?

Have you ever had this experience, that you are exposed to some loud noise for a period of time, say, at a rock concert, and it leaves you somewhat deaf for some time after, maybe an hour or two?

Yeah. So I have to keep the hearing aids turned up so loud to get them to more or less work, that my ear is bombarded with noise and when I take them off, I'm even more deaf. I've got them off now for the rest of the day, and I'm hoping some of my natural hearing comes back, or else I'll be back on prednisone tomorrow morning.

The really loud noise I was exposed to via the turned-up hearing aids was a movie. K and I went to see Shrek, which we both enjoyed, although my hearing totally sucked and was not at all adjusted for going to the movies. Here's hoping that's something else they can work on and I don't have to spend the rest of my life wishing I could get closed captioning in a movie theatre. I rarely go to the movies now, but I'd like to keep my options open.

Memorial Day. Aside from the true meaning of the day, which I'm saving for another time, Memorial Day is interlinked to my father because he was born on May 30, which was the real date for Memorial Day for many, many years. When he was a little boy, his father told him the parade each year was for him. In his earliest memories -- he was born in 1919 -- he remembered seeing Civil War veterans, in their uniforms and with their long, white beards -- marching in the parade in his Massachusetts home town. Like every other village and hamlet in New England, there was a Civil War memorial on the town green. For some reason, I don't see those all over New Jersey, but I know I've seen them all over Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Anyway.

So the days feel off to me, the dates feel off. If Memorial Day isn't the 30th -- and I don't think it ever is anymore, is it? -- I get all mixed up.

But I do have to go to school tomorrow. That much I've got.

watching Roseanne :: entry #1478