La vie décousue

I’ve lost my voice. Completely. I can’t whisper, murmur or hum. It’s like my vocal chords no longer exist. I had a week where my voice became progressively hoarser, but then yesterday, it just disappeared. The doctor thinks its just laryngitis, so should come back soon, but for now I just have to wait and rest. Needless to say, I won’t be doing any recording I will still be releasing the rest of The Holy War, which I have already recorded.

Being voiceless (even for only 2 days so far) has certainly been an experience. I don’t look like there’s anything wrong with me, so people naturally assume that I can speak, and get confused (at best) or angry (at worst) when I don’t. Some of the things I’ve discovered:

• Drive-throughs are out of the question.
• Ordering from any fast-food joint is pretty much impossible actually, because the people who work at them generally aren’t exactly the patient and understanding sort.
• I never realised how much I hum to myself. Now that I can’t do it, I feel like there’s no music in me.
• I can’t laugh out loud. I can’t even giggle. Like the music, I feel like I’ve lost something very precious that I never fully appreciated before.
• I used to hate shopping at supermarkets, but when you can’t speak, going to the butchers is extremely difficult. Being able to buy pre-packaged meat and other goods without having to speak to anyone was quite a blessing. That is, until I got to the check-out counter, and couldn’t tell the girl which account to charge…
• I’m thankful I live in a largely literate society. It must be so hard for mute people to get by without being able to at least write things down to communicate.

Well, that’s all for now. Hopefully the next time I post here, I’ll have good news.