Listening through your nose?

When I can't sleep, I listen to a radio program on my small little radio, the sound of conversation just puts me right out. Once upon a time my grandfather used to leave cassette tapes with his favorite evangelical talk shows and sermons lying about for me with post-it notes saying, "Listen to this!" - they had the same effect. The act of listening to someone else speak, lulls me, allows me to leave my own thoughts and worries behind.

Lately, I've been wearing earplugs, living in a downtown core has that effect. And the fact that people frequently play bongo drums in the park across the street into the wee hours. Actually they usually don't start up until the wee hours. So how do I listen to the radio and wear earplugs? Somehow if you lay on the earphone and turn the volume up. Well, the other night I rolled over and in a semi-conscious state, realized I was listening to the radio through my nostril. Yup, you can listen to the radio through your nose when your ears are plugged. This was to weird and yucky to continue with once I realized what was happening, and made me laugh a bit (alone in my bed, roomie must have wondered!!)

Well when I saw the headline for this article I was naturally intrigued: http://www.slate.com/id/2162384/?GT1=9231 But it actually didn't quite meet my expectations! Anyways, it does relate to a novel I read this weekend featuring a nurse working a burn unit (in part II) during world war II and overhears a girl break up with a soldier who has lost his nose and has been horrible disfigured. They have just completed one surgery to start creating new nostrils for the poor fellow. The girl whimpers, I'm sorry I just can't do it and rushes out. Eva enters the room, and the soldier holds up a photograph of a very handsome young man, it is himself. (I can't find the page, this is just a rough description) She assumes that it is the girls new beau until he rips the photo in half and she realizes who it is. Of course this lead to an interesting discussion with Supple Scientist over what one would do in a similar situation. If you are looking for quaint historical fiction with a touch of the mysterious and otherworld and a healthy dose of sad ending, you may enjoy Eva Moves the Furniture by Margot Livesey. A girl grows up in a remote part of Scotland with the helpful and sometimes irritating intrusions of "the companions" - a woman and a girl visible only to herself. Her mother dies in childbirth, when 6 magpies arrive in the tree outside the window. She leaves for Glasgow to nurse, hoping to leave them behind, and loses the love of her life when she admits their presence to him. She learns better later on, and enters into a marriage without sharing this aspect of her life. Omens, moving furniture, ghostly conversations, and a life recounted in a wise and well written narrative. I disliked the final chapters however and went to bed depressed. But, that's just me. I'm a sucker for happy endings.

I also read Wild Orchid, by Beverley Brenna, a delicious interpretation of life with Asperger's Syndrome written for teens. In it's way it is much more approachable that the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night. An eighteen year old girl moves to Prince Albert National Park with her mother for the summer and finds herself coping with this unsettling change, seeking her first boyfriend, and attempting her first job. The narrative is incredibly realistic, Taylor herself displays the incredible recall and attention to logic and detail that accompanies this condition, and the story rolls along with interest. The story is about more than her condition. It's about gaining a sense of self, and ability to cope with a life that is sometimes out of your control. The story was a bit short, the secondary characters a bit underdeveloped, and plot a little happy-go-lucky, but overall it was a very good read. The setting was lush, and easily imagined as Taylor spends her day at the park's nature house, and as she seeks rare orchids along the pathways with her new friend Paul, who's wife has been diagnosed with MS.