I’m really trying to stay positive here with this music business. I miss it a great deal, and I realize it will never be the same, but I am going to do whatever I can to make the best of this amazing device implanted into my ear. So I’ve emailed my audiologist and she is going to consult the manufacturer, Advanced Bionics, to see what else she might be able to do to help music sound a bit better. But for now, I just need to keep “practicing” by listening to songs I remember well. And having my old ipod returned to me, I am doing just that.

I’ll tell you what I can’t bear to listen to, and that’s Over the Rhine. They have been one of my all-time favorite bands for well over a decade. I have been to concerts, I own many many albums, and have so many great memories. But while Linford’s piano tinkling sounds are nice, Karin’s voice just sounds way too distorted, butchered even, and that hurts my heart. It is painful right down to my core. I don’t even have the words. It just hurts, that’s all. So… moving on.

Here is a list of songs that are currently mostly enjoyable:

“The Distance” – Cake
“I Feel the Earth Move” – Carole King
“Can’t Go Back Now” – The Weepies (this surprised me, but I think it’s just that I hadn’t heard it in a super long time)
“Bones” – The Killers (good beat at beginning, then torture)
“She Lost Feeling in the Ends of Her Fingers” – Linford Detweiler (see, piano tinkly music good)
“E-Pro” – Beck (it’s all about the drum beat)
“These Arms of Mine” – Otis Redding (“This is Otis. I love Otis.” – Ducky from Pretty In Pink)
“Lifelong Fling” – Over the Rhine (Yay! I found a good one!)

And the list goes on… While it’s still not what it was, it’s nice to find several among the 300+ on my ipod that are tolerable and sometimes even enjoyable to listen to. Party on.