Ear Plug Addiction

Hi. I’m Carrie Ann, and I am an ear plug addict.

At first, I was given a free pair, you know, to just try out. And then I went back and bought a pair, but only to use every once in a while. Then I started traveling more, which is really stressful, and I found that I needed them more and more. Before long, I was using them at home. Now, I am an every day user. I use ear plugs every day.

Using them while traveling is a no-brainer…you know that exhausted feeling you can sometimes get from a long flight? Well, I read that part of that exhaustion is caused because an airplane cabin is really loud; you become quickly accustomed to it. But it has a draining effect on your body. Ear plugs reduce the noise and the exhaustion later.

Plus, and this is a huge bonus for an introvert such as I am, you don’t have to talk to people on the flight, unless you want to. All you have to do is make a big show of pulling out the ear plug when your neighbor asks you a question, and pretty soon they don’t want to bug you anymore.

Using them for sleeping while in a foreign country or foreign hotel is a no-brainer. I found that they come in handy when my co-worker would come back to the hotel room late at night (or early in the morning) from the clubs or from her date she agreed to go on with a stranger in a foreign country where she doesn’t speak the language.

Ear plugs also come in handy when said co-worker comes home late and decides that this moment is the perfect moment to practice yoga or hand stands, in a skirt, wearing a thong. At this point ear plugs don’t do much good, so I have to quit pretending I’m asleep and ask her to cut it out. She then obliges and goes outside to continue hand stands in the hall of our open air hotel in Mexico.

I began using ear plugs at home to assuage the less than symphonic cacophony of chirping, barking, quacking, squawking, and cock-a-doodle-doing that goes on 24/7 at the goat/chicken/dog/duck farm next door. You thought roosters only crowed at dawn? I’m schoolin’ you, dog, they crow whenever they feel like it.

So when I go to bed, part of the ritual now includes rolling two nude colored foam cones (memory foam for the ears) into what resembles tiny joints (not that I would know) and sliding them into my ear holes where they gently expand causing a rushing sound (not unlike the rushing sound of the Spirit of the Lord…not that I would know) until they seal out the outside world like the air lock of a space shuttle. Shhhhhhhhcp.

Silence


Bliss


And I sleep like I’ve been drugged.