Catholic "Vaders" and Animals!

I want everyone to know that SOME of Darth Vader’s family are on the "Light" Side! :O) ... Today I went to Mass with some of them ... Fr. Mike "Vader" led the ceremony! I really had to contort my face to keep from laughing as Fr. "Vader" spoke so eloquently and meaningfully the words Jesus said during the Last Supper – and I think I gave him a funny face when he handed me the communion wafer! :O) ... If there was ever ANY doubt that God has a great sense of humor ...! :O) ... Fr. Mike laughed when I told him about it afterwards – HE has a great sense of humor, too! :O)

I’m still having a lot of trouble comprehending the speech today – still sounds about the same as yesterday. I’ve noticed, though, when I’m lipreading, that I AM hearing a lot more of the letters/syllables/sounds of the words – whereas before I think I was filling in the blanks a lot more! :O) ... Music/singing I’m still not able to distinguish from talking – other than the sounds are longer/more drawn out. ... I did cheat and put my hearing aid and PA(FM) system on for the scripture readings and the sermon – didn’t want to miss those! :O) ... It’s much easier to understand the words when I know what the person is going to say – the ritual part of the Mass and the Rosary afterwards were pretty clear for me! :O)

After Mass, I went to Walmart to return something, and decided to walk around inside the store and see what I could hear. I could hear someone speaking on the loudspeaker every once in a while – sounded like maybe commercials for products? I could hear people’s voices that I went near, but couldn’t understand the words (although I didn’t try too hard, either!). ... I’m thinking the jet plane sounds I’m hearing on the road are from the vehicles around me – I heard them again today in my own car! :O)

I’d promised I’d stop by and say hello to my aqua-therapist, so I did that next. She has a bunch of bird feeders in her yard, so I sat near them for a while to see if I could hear the many different birds that are always there. ... I guess birds really ARE industrious creatures ... I heard what sounded like a lot of hammering and pipe-tapping and water drops falling (all from the direction of the birds)! :O) ... And a LOT of quacking – although there weren’t any ducks! :O)

On the way back I stopped at a therapeutic riding stable to see if I could hear the horses! :O) ... It was really hot outside, so all of them were in their stalls in the barn. I went in and petted and talked to them all, but none of them offered a neigh or a whinny or even a snort (well, at least, I don’t think they did)! :O) ... They were very nice, gentle, QUIET horses! :O) ... I even tried turning up the "sensitivity" control quite a bit ... but no luck. ... Oh, well, I’ll have to go back when they’re being fed or groomed or ridden! :O)

I watched a couple of TV shows this afternoon, and the people sound just the same on there as they do in person – although I understood them better because I had the captioning on! :O) ... Jenda still hasn’t meowed at me that I know – I haven’t heard any sounds that I could attribute to having come out of her cute little mouth, anyway. :O/ ... Oh, well, I’m sure she’ll say something eventually – she CAN be quite talkative! :O)

Tomorrow I go back for my second activation ... can’t wait! :O) ... Medical transportation will pick me up at 7:15am – my appointment’s not until 2:30pm, so I’ll have about 5 hours to wander around the hospital and listen to everything there! Maybe I’ll try reading my book aloud to myself or something ... MY voice sounds the weirdest of all! :O) ... I seem to hear the words a split second after I say them – not right at the same time! :O)

Well, my keyboard percolator has been going a long time ... I’d better quit before my coffee runneth over! :O) ... I’ll post again tomorrow night! :O)