pills, practicing

After enduring more than a week of being half deaf in my left ear, I finally broke down and called my P.A. for an antibiotics prescription yesterday. I haven't had an ear infection since I was in 6th grade, and this time I really thought I might be able to beat it without medication. After all, it didn't hurt that much, and you keep hearing about how we (meaning humans in the western world in general) are too quick to take antibiotics so now we are developing resistances and infections are harder to treat...yada yada. So I tried to get better. I took Sudafed, but it didn't do much besides dry out my throat. I tried an ear candle on Sunday, much to the amusement of the rest of my family (Daniel: "Mom, why do you have a fire sticking out of your ear?"), but it didn't do much either. Yes, there are pictures. No, I will not share them. More than one person suggested that I see a chiropractor, and I think someone even mentioned acupuncture. But those things cost lots of money, and at the end of the day what I really want is my hearing back, so I had the prescription called in, dragged two tired kids to the clinic, plunked down my co-pay, stocked up on yogurt, and after just one dose I could already tell a difference. Modern medicine certainly has its place.

In other news, I am frantically trying to learn a big pile of music for graduate auditions this weekend. 95% of what I have to play I can just read, or play with minimal practice time, but there are a couple pieces that are kicking my ass. I just found another sitter who is available when the regular one is not. Best of all, she lives close by, so I can drop the kids off at her house and then come home and practice in peace.

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And now, for your moment of zen, aka random Daniel quote of the day: "Mom, I have a clock in my mouth the shape of a goat! I bet you've never seen a clock the shape of a goat before!" Sometimes I have no idea where he comes up with this stuff.