What's That You Say?

I think that I miss out on a lot of things because I can’t hear that well. I don’t actually know if I have a diagnosable problem, but I’m sure that I say “what?” at least 50 times more than the average person per day. Often times I find myself making a game out of it when I’m involved a conversation in an inconvenient (i.e. very loud) place. It’s called, “laugh, frown, or look outraged:” these of course being three major reactions of a good (girl) listener. You can usually detect the tone of the discussion through body language and facial expressions. But be sure to keep the responses fairly neutral in case you have judged the situation wrong. If you ever find yourself in paused conversation with your talker staring at you expectantly, just say “yes,” or even safer, “umm, yeah,” and then let the person continue speaking while you attempt round-about ways for them to repeat what they had asked.

So maybe this is a slight exaggeration, but don’t be surprised if you can think back to a time when I appeared to be mulling things over as we talked. I guess if I was really invested in being a good listener I would have the talker repeat things for me. Although I’m pretty sure there is a “what” quota in any conversation and when I’m at a surplus, the talker will lose interest in talking to me. It’s not worth it to them anymore. That is very sad for me.

You should see me in a conversation with at least three people when listening is not dependent on me. Sometimes I’m not even there. If early on it’s established that I can’t hear, I just start looking around the room and then abruptly bring up random subjects that I’ve thought of as I was in my own world. My friends are used to it and so am I. I forget that it is so unbelievably rude when there is somebody new hanging out with us. “What’s with that girl? Is she too good to listen to me talk? What a whore.” Haha.

D.Riggs

Small thing: Birds walking.