There’s been a constant ringing in my ears since I can
remember. It’s a high-pitch, and is seems to pulse in range with each beat of
my heart. It isn’t like a bell, which is what I thought of when I saw the word ringing;
it’s more like a constant, high-pitched hum. As I frequently do, I referred to
the internet for advice and decided that I have a traumatic brain injury, too
much earwax, arthritis, and varicose veins. These are all probably due to the
fact that I am a pilot, a rock musician, or a logger, and it is likely a
condition called Tinnitus, which is quite common.
What I was happy to read is that it is unlikely due to high
blood pressure or prolonged exposure to toxic chemicals or excessive alcohol
consumption. I’ve been pretty lucky to not have any long-term physical effects
of my research on substance abuse, and I take pretty good care of myself these
days just in case.
I read on and discovered that depending on the cause of the
ringing, most likely it is treatable, but not curable. One of the treatments—and
I like this because it says it is doctor recommended—is that I should get a
white-noise machine to drown out the ringing, but that I shouldn’t turn the
volume up too high, or I risk causing further damage. There are also
medications that can temporarily reduce the hum which include Alprazolam
(Xanax), and Tricyclic antidepressants which include both notriptyline and
amitriptyline, but Xanax is highly addictive, and I’m not depressed. It should
be noted that some side effects of these medications include blurred vision,
dry mouth, constipation, and heart disease!
There are a million more causes and solutions on the Clear Ear Blog which includes a
number of pictures of old people looking confused and advertisements for
various ear cleaning devices and services. That’s all on that.
In other news, I have recently made a serious commitment at Beloved Studios with the owner
Brandon Heffron to do some new tattoo work. Luckily for me, I have appointments
starting in March with the owner himself, and I will be having work done over
some existing ink that was laid down roughly 13 years ago. Before new work can
be applied, however, I have to have the old stuff toned down a bit, and the
only way to do that is with a cheese grater. No. I actually started the laser
removal process about a week ago, and I can tell you if you’re interested, that
lasers hurt like a motherfucker. This is a year-long project, and it will be
really expensive—somewhere in the neighborhood of $4,000. It’s what I want, and
I’ve been excited to do something new for many years, and I finally have the means
to do what I want to do, so I’m going to do it. I will keep you posted, but it
will be a while until I can show you any progress, but when I do it will be exciting
(for me) to show off my transformation. This whole process will be documented
on video and camera, and I can’t wait to compile some if it and show it off.
That’s all for now, I’m going to get out into the sun and
see what the day brings. I think maybe a Twins game tonight, who knows. And here's a picture of the moon: